You Don't Xerox; You Photocopy

The realtor Xeroxed the documents before giving me the keys to my new home, along with some post-it notes with her name and picture on it. "Call me if you have any questions," she said, smiling.

What's wrong with that sentence? It may seem like a fair description of an everyday encounter, but there are three instances of copyright infringement alone in that sentence. Realtor, Xeroxed, and post-it notes are all registered trademarks of three different companies.

Journalists and writers need to be careful about avoiding the use of terms like these in their stories, for print, the Internet and otherwise. These genericized trademarks have become a part of speech in everyday life, but they should stay out of writing. Companies can become very protective about how their trademarks are used, so it's best to just avoid the issue entirely.

Since these words have become such a part of day-to-day life, they can be difficult to recognize and avoid. Here's a list, by no means exhaustive, of some genericized trademarks to avoid and a suggested alternative.

Advil - Pain reliever
Band-Aid - bandage
Baggies - bags
Bubble Wrap - packaging material
Coke - pop
Crayola - crayons
Dumpster - garbage bin
Frisbee - flying disk
Google - search engine/search
Kleenex - tissue paper
Listserv - e-mail list
Musak - elevator music
Photoshop - image editing software
Polaroid - instant photograph
Post-it note - sticky note
Q-tips - cotton swabs
Realtor - real estate agent
Scotch tape - clear tape
Sharpie - permanent marker
Styrofoam - polystyrene filler
Vaseline - petroleum jelly
Xerox - photocopy
Ziploc bag - storage bag

Now remember - there's no reason if you are writing a story about Adobe Photoshop that you can't call it Photoshop. That's fair use of a company's trademark. The problem comes when you refer to photoshopping an image or something along those lines. That is use of a genericized trademark that needs to be avoided.