Quote:
Originally Posted by samb
Chrome, Apple, Windows... they're all generic
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Not if they are used out of their familiar context they are not.
None of these are used in the areas where their root name is generic. In the fields in which they are used they are legitimate TMs. Nobody ever used Windows to describe an operating system before MS, nobody ever used Apple as the name of computer hardware, and nobody used Chrome to describe a bit of software.
As for the transliteration argument, if the transliterations were out there first in use, then they are generic. If not then they are clearly TMs. If the transliteration of Chrome appeared in the Japanese dictionary before Google used it, then it is generic, if not then you are looking at TM infringement.