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Related to genericness: thesaurus, Genericity


a. Relating to or descriptive of an entire group or class: Cancer is a generic term for a group of diseases in which cells proliferate wildly.
b. Lacking specificity; general: made some generic remarks about how to save for retirement.
2. Biology Of or relating to a genus.
a. Relating to or being a product that is sold or distributed without any brand name or without a widely known brand name, especially as a discount alternative to a name-brand product: generic soap.
b. Relating to or being the official nonproprietary name of a drug, under which it is licensed and identified by the manufacturer.
4. Grammar Specifying neither masculine nor feminine gender: generic nouns like waitperson and executive.

[From Latin genus, gener-, kind; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]

ge·ner′i·cal·ly adv.
gen′e·ric′i·ty (jĕn′ə-rĭs′ĭ-tē), ge·ner·ic·ness n.


the state or quality of being genericgeneric properties
References in periodicals archive ?
The Board felt that third-party registrations for marks with zero disclaimed did not prove genericness, because words that are merely descriptive may also be disclaimed.
Some defenses--including genericness, abandonment, and functionality (at least mechanical functionality)--are really validity doctrines with all-or-nothing effect.
22) England's dreary genericness, the sogginess of its unspecific foliage, causes the brilliantly detailed Caribbean to seem fantastical in contrast.
It is the questions' very genericness that will let you shine by thinking how you might answer them beforehand.
significance and slides into genericness as a product designation.
This consideration would allow branding and industry experts to offer relevant evidence on the genericness, functionality, descriptiveness, or parodic aspects of the trademark and the defendant's use.
routinely admitted in trademark and false advertising cases to show actual confusion, genericness of a name or secondary meaning, all of which depend on establishing that certain associations have been drawn in the public mind.
Justin Hughes's application of Lockean theory to trademark law is limited to the problem of genericness and the abolition of the token use doctrine.
This Part considers how the public collectively engages in productive use, both to create trademarks that are nevertheless capable of private occupation by mark owners, and to destroy rights in existing marks through ex post genericness.
There is updated and expanded coverage of digital copyright law, and the book's chapter on trademark law has been reorganized to cover the doctrines of genericness and functionality earlier.
2d at 669-70 (rejecting defendant's genericness argument because of weak evidence not probative of the issue, but without further discussion; lacking discussion of the fourth factor, "the person's bona fide noncommercial or fair use of the mark in a site accessible under the domain name").