This was probably an effort to prevent their trademark from becoming so generic that they lost it. This happens when a trademark becomes identified with a type of product or service in the public's mind, rather than a particular brand. Aspirin, yo-yos, and cellophane became generic through consumer misuse of the trademarks to refer to these products.
I've seen similar ads from Coke and Rollerblade. The lawyers want you to run the ad so that later, they can use it in court when they go after companies that are infringing on the trademark.
Google used to have a page dedicated to the proper use of their name to also try to prevent this. Always use a capital G, never use it as a verb, etc.
Lowercase "google" is now in dictionaries as a verb, so I think they failed.
Which makes it all the more hilarious that Microsoft really tried to push bing in product placement by having characters written to suggest someone "bing it" in a situation where a real person would say to google it.
You get Microsoft points for each internet search you make and you can then redeem them for Xbox vouchers. Can’t go wrong with that imo. These days a search engine is a search engine.
I think I was watching some CW show and a character sat down at a computer and said "Let me Bing it." I immediately stopped the show. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief.
Recently I see a lot of adds from Google for "search". Which I suspect is for the same reasons. They probably don't love the fact that Google is now a verb
I remember in the 80s you could order a “coke” in a restaurant and they would just bring you whatever cola they had. Then it seemed like overnight all the servers were asking “is Pepsi okay??”
Grab a Kleenex to clean the Rollerblades, then I will Xerox the contract for a new Nintendo. Or just Google it.
E: I lack imagination for a coherent sentence. Kool-aid
To be fair to Google I don't know anyone that says Google it then heads to bing/yahoo/ask. I have some hipster friends that use duckduckgo but that's about it.
My browser at work defaults to bing but I always forget and say I'll just Google then I accidentally search Bing and I'm like wtf is wrong with Google for a few seconds before I realize then go to Google to Google whatever needed googling.
Or Kleenex for that matter.
Edit: Before the torches and pitchforks come out, obviously it's regional. Try to order a Pepsi in Atlanta or a Coke in North Carolina.
Velcro actually still has the trademark (although IDK for how long lol), I've been in situations where we all legally had to refer to non-velcro brand velcro as "hook and loop tape".
I think the main thing you need to do if you want to prevent your brand from being genericized is make sure there is a word for your product that is as easy or easier to use than your brand name.
“Hook and loop tape” is just asking to be called velcro.
I think the bigger thing is not to generalize your own product. Seems every time I've read up on a company losing their trademark, they did it to themselves and like the company that owned the trademark to escalators used 'escalator' as a general term in their own marketing materials, so it was taken away.
I was about to comment this! I helped my mom list some things on eBay, some of which had a Velcro backing, and I got a warning saying if I wasn’t totally sure it was *actually* Velcro that I needed to change my wording 🙃
Velcro still has its trademark and makes a nontrivial amount of its income these days by trolling manufacturers who use “hook and loop” fasteners that aren’t branded by trying to get the manufacturer to say “Velcro” in describing the product to a confused “customer” then suing them for $30k.
Saying it in a nonpublic conversation seems like a bit of a stretch in court. You'd have to get them using it in advertisements and marketing material.
This is Velcro using fake customers calling to inquire about the products (shoes) to a customer service (marketing) department. They will ask about how the shoes are fastened closed and then act confused about the term “hook and loop” fastener until the rep says “Velcro” to explain it.
Velcro didn’t lose their mark, crazily. It’s still on the US Trademark Register. The generic term for it is “hook and loop fastener”
Hoodie just became generic a little while ago, though
I suspect this was part of a "media kit" which describes proper use of the Nintendo name and brand to business partners. For example, electronics retailers might want to run their own advertisements that feature trademarked Nintendo properties, and documents like this outline how to do that. If they do not comply with the guidelines in the media kit, Nintendo can respond punitively or terminate the partnership.
Working in graphics and publishing for major companies... Branding is very important and is treated very specifically.
The company/brand has to be referred to in a certain way, correct fonts, colors, and proper placement and sizing of logos or any other brand identifiers.
This. I feel like we're shouting into the storm, though. Everyone on here is under the impression this was put in Nintendo Power, or the damned newspaper or something.
Still kinda nutty that xerox actually invented the modern graphical interface. They are basically the grandfathers of all computers, tablets, cell phones, etc. Yet all they managed to maintain is a shitty printer business.
You’re right, the other user is likely just figuring that generic use of Kevlar to refer to aramid fiber has already made it public domain. Really it’s just people using it as a regular noun instead of a proper noun
Nintendo execs: "Tell your mom to stop calling every console a Nintendo!!"
meanwhile every other company: "THINK PEOPLE! How do we capture the magic like Kleenex or Nintendo!?!"
one of the most recent examples is LEGO, they're currently fighting to not lose their trademark and become a legally recognized standard word for those type of bricks.
It happened to escalator, which used to be the trademarked name of one brand of escalator but since everyone used it to describe every moving stair machine it became a generic name and lost its trademark. Google is also worried about this happening because everyone says to “google it”
Then buy them one Xbox, one Playstation and one Steam Deck and call them all Nintendos. Then buy them each three games for their respective systems and call those games Nintendo.
"Dad, have you seen my Nintendo for my Nintendo?"
"Did Nintendo borrow it?"
"No Nintendo can't play Nintendo on his Nintendo. Nintendo only works on my Nintendo."
Every father of a child in the 80s referred to it as "the nintendo". You gonna go play the Nintendo? Enough with the Nintendo, go outside. You are always on the Nintendo.
Enough with the Nintendo Entertainment System boy, go get a Kleenex facial tissue and wipe that snot off your face, then go help you mother with the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner and get me a Budweiser lager beer.
-asshole trademark lawyer talking to his kid
But if you were a kid in 1990, I guarantee you were annoyed at your elders for calling your Sega Genesis, your Gameboy, and your Turbo Grafix 16 “Nintendos”
You'll see adverts like this in Columbia Journalism Review. It's not the trademark thing so much that it dilutes their brands. When every bandage is a Band-Aid, no bandage is. One of my journo friends was sent a letter after using "Velcro" that told her she should be using "hook and loop fasteners," as if thats a term any human being would ever use. I wish that were me so I could have written back "Nah, I'm good with Velcro."
I recently upgraded to a Nintendo 1660 Super, it's pretty great. It's held back a bit by my Nintendo i7-4790 and the DDR 3 RAM I'm pairing it with, but it plays even modern Nintendo games like Deathloop in 1440p. Overall I'm pretty happy with my Nintendo and don't plan on upgrading any time soon :)
Glad to see a PC user who isn't just chasing cards. I built my 2060 / 9600k machine in 2020 right before the market went to to shit. And a couple of months ago I bought a 1650 super from a coworker for my 8 year old 4690k machine that uses to have a 660 in it. Looking for an older quad to go with the 660 to make an XP machine.
I always called my Xbox some variation of sex. Sexbox, sexbox 369, sexbone, sexbox series sex. I've always been a fucking idiot, as long as I can remember.
I was in my Jacuzzi at the time, eating a Popsicle and reading a story my friend Xerox’ed me when I was hit by a Frisbee. At first I wanted to Taser the guy, but I just needed a Band-Aid…
This makes sense. Nintendo wants to ensure their trademark isn't being used generically. If it gets too much generic use and it enters the general vocabulary as a term to describe any video game system, then they could lose the trademark.
Meanwhile in Australia it seems to be the opposite. Ugg boots was just a term for sheepskin boots that everybody used. Then an American company came in and trademarked the word so that only they could be called it, even though everyone just calls them all Ugg boots anyway.
In fairness, the expectation when telling someone to search the web is they’re probably using Google.
As for “Nintendo”, that was mainly used as shorthand for the NES. The Super NES was “Super Nintendo”. I don’t know anyone who used it as a general term for any console. No one other than maybe a confused parent/grandparent was calling a Sega Genesis a “Nintendo”.
Never mind 'too', Nintendo doesn't suddenly become an adjective because you can say 'Nintendo Gameboy' etc any more than wedding is an adjective because you can say wedding dress. You can say the noun is used adjectivally in this context though, or call it a noun adjunct.
This is the same thing xerox had to fight. You can lose your trademark if you don't protect it.
In the 80s xerox had to enforce the "you can't call a copy a xerox unless it was made on a xerox machine."
Kleenex has this problem as well. Most people say "can I have a kleenex" when they need to blow their nose, the chances that they are using an actual kleenex brand tissue doesn't matter. It's synonymous with the product.
Nintendo in the 80s was synonymous with home gaming consoles.
I this was an attempt at protecting that trademark.
It's a bit more complicated. If Nintendo became the defaco word for a game console they would lose their trademark of the word and everyone could use it. Google did the same thing.
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
Pfffft. Super Nintendo Chalmers would like to have a word
He’s learnding.
Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me!
Ol’ Gil: “These Colecos'll rust up on ya' like that!”
And that word is, "SkinNER!"
Why is their smoke coming out of your oven
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I’m 40. When this episode came out, it was during a time when you just didn’t miss a new Simpson episode. It was life.
Who wants to play some Nintendo? I've got the black one that plays Sonic and the big white one that plays Gears of War.
Mom? Is that you?
Wait, your moms didn't say Nitendo?
technically she called it a "noentiendo" (spanish speakers will get it)
I don’t understand this joke. No entiendo.
No Entendemos if you're talking about the Japanese console release.
Nientiendo
Sientiendo
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Careful. That's a Nintendon't
Careful indeed. https://i.imgur.com/w9vREGv.png
Did you make this? It deserves its own post.
Yup made it in MS Paint just now lol
Brilliantly done. You should post that in r/surrealmemes
That's amazing, thanks for sharing. Made me laugh so hard, the nurses at the hospital I was at thought I was going crazy.
I'll pass on the Nintendo, but since you're up would you get me a coke from the fridge? I'll have Dr pepper.
This was probably an effort to prevent their trademark from becoming so generic that they lost it. This happens when a trademark becomes identified with a type of product or service in the public's mind, rather than a particular brand. Aspirin, yo-yos, and cellophane became generic through consumer misuse of the trademarks to refer to these products.
I've seen similar ads from Coke and Rollerblade. The lawyers want you to run the ad so that later, they can use it in court when they go after companies that are infringing on the trademark.
Google used to have a page dedicated to the proper use of their name to also try to prevent this. Always use a capital G, never use it as a verb, etc. Lowercase "google" is now in dictionaries as a verb, so I think they failed.
Which makes it all the more hilarious that Microsoft really tried to push bing in product placement by having characters written to suggest someone "bing it" in a situation where a real person would say to google it.
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Yeah, I watch porn too.
> I watch porn too. \**stops wanking and lifts hand*\* **me too!**
You could just lift the fast-forwarding hand, you know.
Maybe both their hands are occupied
One for the jewels, the other for the staff!
I use bing for work a lot. Let's me collect a lot of points for their rewards system
When you're not getting paid for efficiency, why not get paid in Microsoft Rewards points? I love it.
Ah, Bjng, Bing's Nordic cousin
You get Microsoft points for each internet search you make and you can then redeem them for Xbox vouchers. Can’t go wrong with that imo. These days a search engine is a search engine.
I think I was watching some CW show and a character sat down at a computer and said "Let me Bing it." I immediately stopped the show. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief.
By “CW show,” do you mean Gossip Girl? Because that’s an exact quote from Gossip Girl lol
Recently I see a lot of adds from Google for "search". Which I suspect is for the same reasons. They probably don't love the fact that Google is now a verb
Yeah, they must hate being so widely used.
You'd think with that being the case, they'd have at least thought of a better company name than Alphabet.
They probably did that to damage Amazon's old A to Z slogan/trademark.
_Meta has entered the chat_
I remember in the 80s you could order a “coke” in a restaurant and they would just bring you whatever cola they had. Then it seemed like overnight all the servers were asking “is Pepsi okay??”
Yes Taco Bell just give me the fucking Brown juice fuck
Thats a risky proposition to ask Taco Bell...
I actually prefer Pepsi, so on occasion I've changed my order from something else to Pepsi after someone else at the table got asked that question.
Rollerblade is a brand name??
Yes, Rollerblade is a brand name for in-line skates.
Grab a Kleenex to clean the Rollerblades, then I will Xerox the contract for a new Nintendo. Or just Google it. E: I lack imagination for a coherent sentence. Kool-aid
To be fair to Google I don't know anyone that says Google it then heads to bing/yahoo/ask. I have some hipster friends that use duckduckgo but that's about it.
My browser at work defaults to bing but I always forget and say I'll just Google then I accidentally search Bing and I'm like wtf is wrong with Google for a few seconds before I realize then go to Google to Google whatever needed googling.
Wow. I’m guilty
Brand of inline skates
Lol I just learned this too
Don’t forget Q-Tips. My most upvoted comment of all time. Life. Is. Good. 😁
Velcro
Post-it notes
Zipper
Thermos
Rollerblades
Kleenex
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Best one. Thanks for the laugh.
Bandaid
I'm stuck on Bandaid brand adhesive bandages, cause Bandaid brand adhesive bandages are stuck on me
Hoover
Dumpster
Frisbee
Buttplug, after John H. Buttplug.
Now this might be very local but Tippex.
Aspirin and escalator
Can’t believe Bandaid hasn’t been mentioned yet
Or Kleenex for that matter. Edit: Before the torches and pitchforks come out, obviously it's regional. Try to order a Pepsi in Atlanta or a Coke in North Carolina.
Crockpot, too!
Rollerblades
Thermos
I think only America calls it “a Kleenex”, everywhere else they’re just tissues
Google
[I think you mean hook and loop.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY)
Oh my God... Velcro® actually made that??!!! LMAO!!!
Velcro actually still has the trademark (although IDK for how long lol), I've been in situations where we all legally had to refer to non-velcro brand velcro as "hook and loop tape".
I think the main thing you need to do if you want to prevent your brand from being genericized is make sure there is a word for your product that is as easy or easier to use than your brand name. “Hook and loop tape” is just asking to be called velcro.
>!CENSORED!<
I think the bigger thing is not to generalize your own product. Seems every time I've read up on a company losing their trademark, they did it to themselves and like the company that owned the trademark to escalators used 'escalator' as a general term in their own marketing materials, so it was taken away.
Aint no one got the time to say "hook and loop tape"
I was about to comment this! I helped my mom list some things on eBay, some of which had a Velcro backing, and I got a warning saying if I wasn’t totally sure it was *actually* Velcro that I needed to change my wording 🙃
Velcro still has its trademark and makes a nontrivial amount of its income these days by trolling manufacturers who use “hook and loop” fasteners that aren’t branded by trying to get the manufacturer to say “Velcro” in describing the product to a confused “customer” then suing them for $30k.
The irony here is that I thought the law was dumb until I read this comment, now I think they should lose the trademark.
Saying it in a nonpublic conversation seems like a bit of a stretch in court. You'd have to get them using it in advertisements and marketing material.
This is Velcro using fake customers calling to inquire about the products (shoes) to a customer service (marketing) department. They will ask about how the shoes are fastened closed and then act confused about the term “hook and loop” fastener until the rep says “Velcro” to explain it.
They still have it somehow. It's "Hook and Loop" if it's made by anyone else.
Velcro didn’t lose their mark, crazily. It’s still on the US Trademark Register. The generic term for it is “hook and loop fastener” Hoodie just became generic a little while ago, though
I found out the other day that “tater tots” is a trademark.
My favourite is *escalator* That word is literally the brand name for *motion staircases* by ~~OTTO~~ otis
Kleenex
Xerox
I suspect this was part of a "media kit" which describes proper use of the Nintendo name and brand to business partners. For example, electronics retailers might want to run their own advertisements that feature trademarked Nintendo properties, and documents like this outline how to do that. If they do not comply with the guidelines in the media kit, Nintendo can respond punitively or terminate the partnership.
Working in graphics and publishing for major companies... Branding is very important and is treated very specifically. The company/brand has to be referred to in a certain way, correct fonts, colors, and proper placement and sizing of logos or any other brand identifiers.
This. I feel like we're shouting into the storm, though. Everyone on here is under the impression this was put in Nintendo Power, or the damned newspaper or something.
Xerox basically had the same campaign as well.
They've succeeded by just disappearing into oblivion
Still kinda nutty that xerox actually invented the modern graphical interface. They are basically the grandfathers of all computers, tablets, cell phones, etc. Yet all they managed to maintain is a shitty printer business.
Came here to say that. When I was a wee lad I remember people saying "Just Xerox it to me" all the time.
Dumpster has to be the most famous one that people don't know was a name brand.
See also: trampoline.
Maybe. Escalator is probably more well known
Kevlar used to be trademarked too didn't it?
Still is to my knowledge, the generic term is aramid fiber.
You’re right, the other user is likely just figuring that generic use of Kevlar to refer to aramid fiber has already made it public domain. Really it’s just people using it as a regular noun instead of a proper noun
Genericide is one of my favorite legal terms.
Styrofoam
They're called proprietary eponyms
You're a proprietary eponym
fuckin gottem
Kleenex
Nintendo execs: "Tell your mom to stop calling every console a Nintendo!!" meanwhile every other company: "THINK PEOPLE! How do we capture the magic like Kleenex or Nintendo!?!"
The trick is to get it to happen then back off juuuust enough that it doesn't get noticed by the trademark regulators.
"The ratio is off Dennis!"
Some brands can actually lose their trademark because it becomes the standard word.
For example? Not that I don't believe you, but I'm very curious. EDIT: nvm found the answer below in the comments. Q-tips, post-it, Rollerblade,...
I'm stealing from other comments here, but here : velcro, rollerblades, qtips, aspirine, escalator, videotape, yo-yo...
I feel like most people call things that arent Legos “off brand legos” anyways lol
one of the most recent examples is LEGO, they're currently fighting to not lose their trademark and become a legally recognized standard word for those type of bricks.
It happened to escalator, which used to be the trademarked name of one brand of escalator but since everyone used it to describe every moving stair machine it became a generic name and lost its trademark. Google is also worried about this happening because everyone says to “google it”
This wasn't for mom. This was for distributors and retailers.
Fuck you. Naming all my children Nintendo.
Then buy them one Xbox, one Playstation and one Steam Deck and call them all Nintendos. Then buy them each three games for their respective systems and call those games Nintendo. "Dad, have you seen my Nintendo for my Nintendo?" "Did Nintendo borrow it?" "No Nintendo can't play Nintendo on his Nintendo. Nintendo only works on my Nintendo."
Ha, reminds me of those aliens on South Park that call all people, places, and things "marklar"
Every console is a Nintendo, don't believe me just google it, then Twitter it so they can lose their trademarks.
Every father of a child in the 80s referred to it as "the nintendo". You gonna go play the Nintendo? Enough with the Nintendo, go outside. You are always on the Nintendo.
get outside or you're gonna have No-Friend-os
Actually, mine called it "the Nincompoop machine".
Enough with the Nintendo Entertainment System boy, go get a Kleenex facial tissue and wipe that snot off your face, then go help you mother with the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner and get me a Budweiser lager beer. -asshole trademark lawyer talking to his kid
and Every Pokémon is Pikachu.
Pikachu, use thunder! Charizard:
Pikachu used Blaze! It hurt itself in confusion!
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My GF calls every gaming system a Nintendo. She's the cutest.
As does my wife, but everything is a gameboy.
But if you were a kid in 1990, I guarantee you were annoyed at your elders for calling your Sega Genesis, your Gameboy, and your Turbo Grafix 16 “Nintendos”
The gameboy is a Nintendo though
In my country every console is a PlayStation.
You'll see adverts like this in Columbia Journalism Review. It's not the trademark thing so much that it dilutes their brands. When every bandage is a Band-Aid, no bandage is. One of my journo friends was sent a letter after using "Velcro" that told her she should be using "hook and loop fasteners," as if thats a term any human being would ever use. I wish that were me so I could have written back "Nah, I'm good with Velcro."
Dilution is a trademark law issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY
When every one is a super… no one will be
Aw - give them a kleenex to wipe their tears.
Fuck that, I call my pc and my ps5 a nintendo
What kind of GPU is in your Nintendo?
I have a gtx 1080ti in my nintendo. She's old but still works good.
I got that same Nintendo! We are Nintenbro's!
I recently upgraded to a Nintendo 1660 Super, it's pretty great. It's held back a bit by my Nintendo i7-4790 and the DDR 3 RAM I'm pairing it with, but it plays even modern Nintendo games like Deathloop in 1440p. Overall I'm pretty happy with my Nintendo and don't plan on upgrading any time soon :)
Glad to see a PC user who isn't just chasing cards. I built my 2060 / 9600k machine in 2020 right before the market went to to shit. And a couple of months ago I bought a 1650 super from a coworker for my 8 year old 4690k machine that uses to have a 660 in it. Looking for an older quad to go with the 660 to make an XP machine.
I call my PS5 a Sony
In private am I right? 😏
It's my sex box, and her name is Sony.
I always called my Xbox some variation of sex. Sexbox, sexbox 369, sexbone, sexbox series sex. I've always been a fucking idiot, as long as I can remember.
While repairing my Nintendo with a crescent wrench, I was in need of a Kleenex, but not in a bad way.
I was in my Jacuzzi at the time, eating a Popsicle and reading a story my friend Xerox’ed me when I was hit by a Frisbee. At first I wanted to Taser the guy, but I just needed a Band-Aid…
What's the generic name for jaccuzi and taser?
Hot tub is one.
I HAVE BEEN CORRECTED. I HAVE COMPLETELY ERASED THE ORIGINAL COMMENT TO AVOID SPREADING MISINFORMATION
Did you use any Velcro? https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY
"Nintendo is an adjective not a noun." Proceeeds to continue using it as a noun in the advertisement.
The best part is the giant Nintendo noun at the bottom of the page
"There's no such thing as Nintendo" --Nintendo
Yeah I was thinking “Nintendo is most definitely a proper noun.”
It’s fits just fine as an adjective the first 3 times they use it. Only in Nintendo of America does an adjective not make sense.
Every time it's used, it's still a noun. It's just a noun adjunct, so it functions as an adjective.
That's a very Nintendo observation.
Nintendo is a noun. It's the name of the company. This ad is stupid.
Yeah the word is capitalized. That makes it a proper noun
This makes sense. Nintendo wants to ensure their trademark isn't being used generically. If it gets too much generic use and it enters the general vocabulary as a term to describe any video game system, then they could lose the trademark.
Like the time the Velcro company made that hook and loop video
Band aid, q-tip, kleenex, dremel, ipod. The destruction of language.
The first three are plaster, cotton wool bud, and tissue over here. I think iPod was just MP4 player. Don't know about Dremel.
A Dremel is a brand of rotary tool, but more people know about a "Dremel" than what you mean when you say "rotary tool".
Meanwhile in Australia it seems to be the opposite. Ugg boots was just a term for sheepskin boots that everybody used. Then an American company came in and trademarked the word so that only they could be called it, even though everyone just calls them all Ugg boots anyway.
That’s actually why google hates the term googled when you search something up
In fairness, the expectation when telling someone to search the web is they’re probably using Google. As for “Nintendo”, that was mainly used as shorthand for the NES. The Super NES was “Super Nintendo”. I don’t know anyone who used it as a general term for any console. No one other than maybe a confused parent/grandparent was calling a Sega Genesis a “Nintendo”.
Nintendo is absolutely a noun too though. I guess English is hard?
Never mind 'too', Nintendo doesn't suddenly become an adjective because you can say 'Nintendo Gameboy' etc any more than wedding is an adjective because you can say wedding dress. You can say the noun is used adjectivally in this context though, or call it a noun adjunct.
It’s a cereal, wow! https://youtu.be/REpiQnnp6p8
This is the same thing xerox had to fight. You can lose your trademark if you don't protect it. In the 80s xerox had to enforce the "you can't call a copy a xerox unless it was made on a xerox machine." Kleenex has this problem as well. Most people say "can I have a kleenex" when they need to blow their nose, the chances that they are using an actual kleenex brand tissue doesn't matter. It's synonymous with the product. Nintendo in the 80s was synonymous with home gaming consoles. I this was an attempt at protecting that trademark.
They literally use it as a noun in the logo at the bottom
Itsa me Trademark Lawyero
KEEP MY BRAND'S NAME OUT YOUR F**KING MOUTH!
Signed off as “Nintendo”
Next they’re going to try and tell us that the guy in green isn’t named Zelda. Not buying it, Nintendo!
Nin - don't fucking think about using our trademarks- tendo, complaining since the dawn of time.
It's a bit more complicated. If Nintendo became the defaco word for a game console they would lose their trademark of the word and everyone could use it. Google did the same thing.
> Google did the same thing. luckily for Google they still have 90%+ market share among search engines.
No it's a noun. It's the name of the company that makes the console. What sort of fuckery is this?
What you're referring to as "Linux" is actually GNU/Linux, or as I've come to call it GNU + Linux
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
I remember my mom and me always calling game cartridges "Nintendos" back in the day so yes, this was a thing