Xerox asks Hollywood to stop saying 'Xerox' (picture)

By Matthew Belloni

"Genericide" sounds like something awful, and for a trademark lawyer it is. Aspirin, escalator, thermos, zipper -- just a few examples of products that became so widely known by those trademarked names that their owners lost trademark protection. They were so unique they became generic. 

The good people at Xerox don't want trademark genericide to happen to their copiers, so for years they've waged a campaign to remind people that Xerox is a brand, not a synonym for a photocopy. And they're enlisting Hollywood in that fight. 

This week Xerox ran the above ad in the Hollywood Reporter (click to enlarge) politely asking the creative community to "use Xerox only as an adjective to identify our products and services, such as Xerox copiers, not a verb, 'to Xerox,' or noun, 'Xeroxes.'"

A Xerox spokesman tells us the ads are part of a larger campaign to remind people in influential industries about the nuances of trademark law. It's a shrewd move. Little tweaks to scripts could make a big difference in the public consciousness. Plus, an industry besieged by piracy is likely filled with ears sympathetic to a fight to retain valuable intellectual property.  

So spread the word. We're going to make Xerox-brand photocopies of Monday's THR and give them to everyone at the office.