The Velcro company wants people to stop using the word "Velcro" when referring to the Velcro-ish technology on products not actually made by Velcro because it infringes on the trademark of Velcro.
They even made a funny song about it featuring attorneys from Velcro's legal team.
"We're a company that's so successful that everywhere you go, you see the scratchy, hairy fastener, and you say 'Hey, that's Velcro,'" the song begins. "But even though we invented this stuff, our patent lapsed 40 years ago. Now no matter who else makes it, you still wanna call it Velcro. You think it's awesome for us, we're famous. But we're lawyers and it's causing us grief. 'Cause there are trademark laws being broken. It's all here in this short legal brief."
Velcro has become shorthand for everything from the straps on shoes and gloves to wallets that make that famous ripping sound when you open them, which apparently has bothered the company by infringing on its trademark.
The legal team at Velcro would instead like people to use the much-less catchy term "hook-and-loop" to refer to the fastening technology used by non-Velcro products.
"When you use 'Velcro' as a noun or a verb (e.g., Velcro shoes), you diminish the importance of our brand and our lawyers lose their *insert fastening sound,*" the company wrote in the video's description. "So please, do not say 'Velcro shoes' (or 'Velcro wallet' or 'Velcro gloves') — we repeat 'Velcro' is not a noun or a verb. VELCRO® is our brand."
It's like calling every paper that comes off a copy machine a Xerox, every tissue a Kleenex and every lip balm a Chapstick. Presumably their lawyers are working on songs as we speak.
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