Mathias Schindler wrote:
On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 3:42 AM, Daniel R. Tobias dan@tobias.name wrote:
"wikipedia" becomes a common term for reference sources and online projects of various sorts, like "the wikipedia of baseball statistics".
I see that happening in Germany once in a while, too. It started with other Wiki projects on particular subjects and more and more, "Wikipedia" can be used as a metaphor on something that contains lots of information.
Even if there are some negative consequences associated with that development, the positive implications are much larger.
This seems to touch on the broad issue of genericisation. Owners of trademarks such as Kleenex, Xerox and many others have been fighting this rearguard action for many years with little hope of real success.
While there may be a cause of action when someone else uses the name to promote its product as in using a Canon copier to Xerox one's documents. nothing can be done to stop an individual from xeroxing on a Canon. The Canon Company itself knows enough not to fall into that trap, but local retailers will frequently ignore this.
Ec