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36-621: Kool-Aid is an American brand of flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Heinz based in Chicago , Illinois. The powder form was created by Edwin Perkins in 1927 based upon a liquid concentrate named Fruit Smack . Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in Hastings, Nebraska . All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen. Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. To reduce shipping costs, in 1927, Perkins discovered

72-547: A generic name as soon as a novel pharmaceutical enters the market. For example, aripiprazole , the nonproprietary name for Abilify, was well-documented since its invention. Warfarin , originally introduced as a rat poison , was approved for human use under the brand name Coumadin. Examples of genericization before the modern system of generic drugs include aspirin , introduced to the market in 1897, and heroin , introduced in 1898. Both were originally trademarks of Bayer AG . However, U.S. court rulings in 1918 and 1921 found

108-473: A generic term for the product to be used in descriptive contexts, to avoid inappropriate use of the "house" mark. Such a term is called a generic descriptor and is frequently used immediately after the trademark to provide a description of the product or service. For example, " Kleenex tissues" ("facial tissues" being the generic descriptor) or " Velcro -brand fasteners" for Velcro brand name hook-and-loop fasteners. Another common practice among trademark owners

144-422: A geographical indication for specialty food or drink may be generic, it is not a trademark because it does not serve to identify exclusively a specific commercial enterprise and therefore cannot constitute a genericized trademark. The extension of protection for geographical indications is somewhat controversial. A geographical indication may have been registered as a trademark elsewhere; for example, if "Parma Ham"

180-419: A lack of alternative names in common use: as a result, consumers may not realize that the term is a brand name rather than a medical eponym or generic term. Pharmaceutical trade names are somewhat protected from genericization due to the modern practice of assigning nonproprietary names based on a drug's chemical structure. This circumvents the problem of a trademarked name entering common use by providing

216-483: A result of common use in the marketplace is known as genericization . This process typically occurs over a period of time in which a mark is not used as a trademark (i.e., where it is not used to exclusively identify the products or services of a particular business), where a mark falls into disuse entirely, or where the trademark owner does not enforce its rights through actions for passing off or trademark infringement . One risk factor that may lead to genericization

252-402: A trademark owner may need to take aggressive measures to retain exclusive rights to the trademark. Xerox Corporation attempted to prevent the genericization of its core trademark through an extensive public relations campaign advising consumers to " photocopy " instead of "xerox" documents. The Lego Company has worked to prevent the genericization of its plastic building blocks following

288-637: A way to remove the liquid from Fruit Smack, leaving only a powder; this powder was named Kool-Aid. Perkins moved his production to Chicago in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to General Foods in 1953. Hastings still celebrates a yearly summer festival called Kool-Aid Days on the second weekend in August in honor of their city's claim to fame. Kool-Aid is known as Nebraska 's official soft drink . An agreement between Kraft Foods and SodaStream in 2012 made Kool-Aid's various flavors available for consumer purchases and use with SodaStream's home soda maker machine. There

324-451: Is a processed-food product , designed to mix usually with water to produce a beverage resembling juice, soda, or other sweet products in flavor. Another type of drink mix is represented by products that are mixed into milk. Most drink mixes are powdered ( Powdered Drink Mix ), but some are liquefied ( Liquefied Drink Mix ). The first juice-type powdered drink mix was Poly Pop, invented by Paul Stevens Hollis in 1922. He sold it as part of

360-466: Is also sold as single-serving packets designed to be poured into bottled water, as small plastic bottles with pre-mixed drink, or as such novelties as ice cream or fizzing tablets. The colors in Kool-Aid will stain, and hence the substance can be used as a dye for either hair or wool . The Kool-Aid Man, an anthropomorphic pitcher filled with Kool-Aid, is the mascot of Kool-Aid. The character

396-529: Is an active scene of Kool-Aid collectors. A rare old Kool-Aid package can be traded for up to several hundred dollars on auction websites. Kool-Aid is usually sold in powder form, in either packets or small tubs. The actual beverage is prepared by mixing the powder with sugar (the packets of powder are usually, though not always, unsweetened) and water, typically by the pitcherful. The drink is usually either served with ice or refrigerated and served chilled. Additionally, there are some sugar-free varieties. Kool-Aid

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432-641: Is no longer possible to legally enforce rights in relation to the mark, the mark may have become generic. In many legal systems (e.g., in the United States but not in Germany ) a generic mark forms part of the public domain and can be commercially exploited by anyone. Nevertheless, there exists the possibility of a trademark becoming a revocable generic term in German (and European) trademark law. The process by which trademark rights are diminished or lost as

468-604: Is prone to genericization, or "genericide", when a brand name acquires substantial market dominance or mind share , becoming so widely used for similar products or services that it is no longer associated with the trademark owner, e.g., linoleum , bubble wrap , thermos , taser . A trademark thus popularized is at risk of being challenged or revoked, unless the trademark owner works sufficiently to correct and prevent such broad use. Trademark owners can inadvertently contribute to genericization by failing to provide an alternative generic name for their product or service or using

504-418: Is the use of a trademark as a verb , plural or possessive , unless the mark itself is possessive or plural (e.g., "Friendly's" restaurants). However, in highly inflected languages, a tradename may have to carry case endings in usage. An example is Finnish , where " Microsoftin " is the genitive case and " Facebookista " is the elative case . Generic use of a trademark presents an inherent risk to

540-405: Is to follow their trademark with the word brand to help define the word as a trademark. Johnson & Johnson changed the lyrics of their Band-Aid television commercial jingle from, "I am stuck on Band-Aids, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me" to "I am stuck on Band-Aid brand , 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me." Google has gone to lengths to prevent this process, discouraging publications from using

576-557: Is why companies try hard not to let their trademark become too common, a phenomenon that could otherwise be considered a successful move since it would mean that the company gained an exceptional recognition. An example of trademark erosion is the verb "to hoover" (used with the meaning of "vacuum cleaning"), which originated from the Hoover company brand name. Nintendo is an example of a brand that successfully fought trademark erosion, having managed to replace excessive use of its name with

612-413: The 1978 Jonestown Massacre . At Jonestown, Guyana, followers of Jim Jones ' Temple drank from a metal vat containing a mixture of "Kool Aid", cyanide , and prescription drugs Valium , Phenergan , and chloral hydrate . Present-day descriptions of the event sometimes claim the beverage was not Kool-Aid, but Flavor Aid , a less-expensive product from Jel Sert reportedly found at the site. Kraft Foods ,

648-559: The 1990s, the Parma consortium successfully sued the Asda supermarket chain to prevent it using the description "Parma ham" on prosciutto produced in Parma but sliced outside the Parma region. The European Court ruled that pre-packaged ham must be produced, sliced, and packaged in Parma in order to be labeled for sale as "Parma ham". A trademark is said to fall somewhere along a scale from being " distinctive " to "generic" (used primarily as

684-497: The Big State Company until its acquisition by General Foods in 1953. While some are made with sugar, or sold unsweetened, the products are often made with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame , sucralose , cyclamates or saccharin , and often include artificial flavors and colors. Powdered drink mixes without sugar will often contain water-soluble filler ingredients such as maltodextrin or dextrose . Some of

720-468: The Internet". The Swedish Language Council received a complaint from Google for its inclusion of ogooglebar (meaning 'ungoogleable') on its list of new Swedish words from 2012. The Language Council chose to remove the word to avoid a legal process, but in return wrote that "[w]e decide together which words should be and how they are defined, used and spelled". Where a trademark is used generically,

756-482: The Jonestown inquest spoke of finding packets of "cool aid" ( sic ), and eyewitnesses to the incident are also recorded as speaking of "cool aid" or "Cool Aid." However, it is unclear whether they intended to refer to the actual Kool-Aid–brand drink or were using the name in a generic sense that might refer to any powdered flavored beverage. There have been multiple documented instances of Kool-Aid being spiked with

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792-651: The United States continue to use "Legos" as the plural form of "Lego," but competing and interchangeable products, such as those manufactured by Mega Brands , are often referred to simply as building blocks or construction blocks. The company has successfully put legal pressure on the Swedish Academy and the Institute for Language and Folklore to remove the noun lego from their dictionaries. Adobe Inc. has experienced mixed success with preventing

828-481: The creator of Kool-Aid, has stated the same. Implied by this accounting of events is that the reference to the Kool-Aid brand owes exclusively to its being better-known among Americans. Others are less categorical. Both brands are known to have been among the commune's supplies: Film footage shot inside the compound prior to the events of November shows Jones opening a large chest in which boxes of both Flavor Aid and Kool-Aid are visible. Criminal investigators testifying at

864-445: The effective enforcement of trademark rights and may ultimately lead to genericization. Trademark owners may take various steps to reduce the risk, including educating businesses and consumers on appropriate trademark use, avoiding use of their marks in a generic manner, and systematically and effectively enforcing their trademark rights. If a trademark is associated with a new invention , the trademark owner may also consider developing

900-551: The expiration of Lego's last major patents in 1978. Lego manuals and catalogs throughout the 1980s included a message imploring customers to preserve the brand name by "referring to [their] bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys', and not just 'LEGOS'." In the early 2000s, the company acquired the Legos.com URL in order to redirect customers to the Lego.com website and deliver a similar message. Despite these efforts, many children and adults in

936-546: The genericization of their trademarked software, Adobe Photoshop . This is shown via recurring use of "photoshop" as a noun, verb, or general adjective for all photo manipulation throughout the Internet and mass media. Since 2003, the European Union has actively sought to restrict the use of geographical indications by third parties outside the EU by enforcing laws regarding " protected designation of origin ". Although

972-428: The majority of the Kool-Aid marketing budget towards Latinos. According to the brand, almost 20 percent of Kool-Aid drinkers are Hispanic, and slightly more than 20 percent are African-American. " Drinking the Kool-Aid " is a phrase suggesting that one has mindlessly adopted a dogma of a group or a (cult) leader without fully understanding the ramifications or implications. The backdrop of this are events culminating in

1008-527: The products include vitamins or other nutrients. The products are variously marketed and to the point to children, athletes, bodybuilders, dieters, or as a vitamin supplement. Some brands are only sold as drink mixes, while some beverage companies produce powdered versions of their products, as do Gatorade and Ocean Spray . Another form of drink mix is represented by products mixed into milk, such as malted milk , Nesquik , Ovaltine , and Carnation Instant Breakfast . Genericized trademark A trademark

1044-652: The psychedelic drug lysergic acid diethylamide . Most notable of these was during Project MKUltra , in which subjects would be given Kool-Aid that was spiked with LSD, before being brainwashed and psychologically tortured . Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters frequently held and advertised parties they called the Acid Tests , during which they gave out Kool-Aid that was laced with LSD. Tom Wolfe later wrote about these parties in his book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test . Drink mix A drink mix

1080-439: The term genericization refers to the process of a brand drug losing market exclusivity to generics. Trademark erosion , or genericization , is a special case of antonomasia related to trademarks . It happens when a trademark becomes so common that it starts being used as a common name and the original company has failed to prevent such use. Once it has become an appellative, the word cannot be registered any more; this

1116-437: The term " game console ", at that time a neologism . Whether or not a mark is popularly identified as genericized, the owner of the mark may still be able to enforce the proprietary rights that attach to the use or registration of the mark, as long as the mark continues to exclusively identify the owner as the commercial origin of the applicable products or services. If the mark does not perform this essential function and it

Kool-Aid - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-653: The term ' googling ' in reference to Web searches. In 2006, both the Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary struck a balance between acknowledging widespread use of the verb coinage and preserving the particular search engine's association with the coinage, defining google (all lower case, with - le ending) as a verb meaning "use the Google search engine to obtain information on

1188-523: The terms to be genericized, stating the company's failure to reinforce the brand's connection with their product as the reason. A different sense of the word genericized in the pharmaceutical industry refers to products whose patent protection has expired. For example, Lipitor was genericized in the U.S. when the first competing generic version was approved by the FDA in November 2011. In this same context,

1224-949: The trademark in similar fashion to generic terms . In one example, the Otis Elevator Company 's trademark of the word " escalator " was cancelled following a petition from Toledo -based Haughton Elevator Company . In rejecting an appeal from Otis, an examiner from the United States Patent and Trademark Office cited the company's own use of the term "escalator" alongside the generic term " elevator " in multiple advertisements without any trademark significance. Therefore, trademark owners go to extensive lengths to avoid genericization and trademark erosion. Genericization may be specific to certain professions and other subpopulations. For example, Luer-Lok (Luer lock) , Phoroptor (phoropter) , and Port-a-Cath (portacath) have genericized mind share among physicians due to

1260-528: Was introduced shortly after General Foods acquired the brand in the 1950s. In television and print ads, the Kool-Aid Man was known for randomly bursting through walls of children's homes and proceeding to make a batch of Kool-Aid for them. His catchphrase is "Oh, yeah!". In 2013, Kraft decided to overhaul the Kool-Aid Man, reimagining him as a CGI character, "a celebrity trying to show that he's just an ordinary guy." Starting in 2011, Kraft began allocating

1296-663: Was part of a trademark registered in Canada by a Canadian manufacturer, then ham manufacturers in Parma , Italy, might be unable to use this name in Canada. Wines (such as Bordeaux , Port and Champagne ), cheeses (such as Roquefort , Parmesan , Gouda , and Feta ), Pisco liquor, and Scotch whisky are examples of geographical indications. Compare Russian use of "Шампанское" (= Shampanskoye) for champagne -type wine made in Russia. In

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