TiVo Gets Its Wish: People Start Forgetting The TiVo Name
from the be-careful-what-you-wish-for dept
There's always a fear in the marketing world that your brand name becomes generic and you lose the trademark over it. Kleenex. Xerox. Band-Aid. It happens all the time. A year ago, TiVo was worried about the exact same thing, even having their lawyers nastygram people who misused "TiVo", especially as a verb. "I TiVo'd that show last night" is a big no-no, apparently. In some ways, perhaps it's working. A new study (the methodology seems a bit questionable, I'll admit) suggests that fewer people are referring to their DVR use as "TiVoing." The study doesn't seem to have a base case, showing whether this has increased or decreased, but is clearly trying to imply that fewer people just use the generic word "TiVo" to describe off-brand DVRs. So, is that a good thing? It's exactly what TiVo's lawyers wanted a year ago. However, you have to wonder, in the long run, is it better for everyone to use your brand name (at which point you can make a marketing play about being the "one true TiVo" or "the original TiVo") or have no one use it?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
tivo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
just like ipod
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
TiVo'd???
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
patents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: patents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: patents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tivoing
My friends tivo shows.
They tivo shows.
We all tivo shows.
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Its all about tivoing!
Sorry for the annoyance, but it is pretty lame to harass people as to how a name is used.
It should be a compliment!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Tivoing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They Risk Losing It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: They Risk Losing It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Aspirin
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Aspirin
There will pills, and pharmacists, everywhere.. And then they hit me with the vallium, and.. next thing I knew.. I was in a refugee camp full of Pfizer researches, in the new country of Merckonia.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The real loss
If the name falls into "common use" it ceases to be protectable. Anyone can say "Use this to tivo your favorite programs at home!" about their DVRs. Protecting a name is very valuable. It keeps a company from giving the name's credibility they spent years and millions of dollars building to their competition for free.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The real loss
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
Sorry, I mean "LEGO" vs "LEGOS".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
not Xerox
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: not Xerox
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
TiVo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]