Don't Say Velcro on HackerTube: recommended by 3 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2019–2025.
comedy · evergreen
Velcro Brand's legal team makes a short, humorous ad asking people not to use "velcro" as a noun or verb and to say hook and loop instead. It is a tongue-in-cheek lesson in defending a trademark against genericization.
HN cites it as the go-to example of a company defending its trademark, and many also find it funny.
“it's hilarious and worth watching”
11 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
If you've never seen the video ad that went along with this campaign, it's hilarious and worth watching, as is the follow up. I love the good humor about the whole thing. And it has made their campaign stick in ways that other similar campaigns have not. ▶ this video [link]
in “Don't Say Velcro (2017)” · View on HN
That is a very cute page. I like their attitude. And the video at the top of the page is absolutely wonderful. It's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Watch it with good headphones or speakers and the sound up. Direct link: ▶ this video
in “YKK zippers: Why so many designers use them (2012)” · View on HN
Here is Velcro's lawyers telling you to call those other brands 'hook and loop' in a surprisingly straightforward, honest and amusing way. ▶ this video
in “'Call of Duty' wins First Amendment victory over use of Humvees” · View on HN
JavaScript can refer to many different similar languages, the runtimes, the standard library, etc. People using JavaScript without getting permission are potentially infringing on Oracle's trademark. Many companies with trademarks tenaciously defend the trademark to protect it from being revoked. This doesn't appear to be the case with JavaScript. After usage becomes widespread, a company risks losing their trademark because they did not actively enforce the use of the trademark. This video explains it from Velcro's perspective ▶ this video
in “Oracle Will Not Voluntarily Withdraw JavaScript Trademark” · View on HN
This is the thing. Most people don't know that in order to keep your brand, you have to continually use it and defend it. In a similar vein, the lawyers of the popular "hook and loop fasteners" Velcro constantly try and defend their IP so it doesn't become generic. ▶ this video
in “Live London Underground / bus maps taken down by TfL trademark complaint” · View on HN
Much more effectively, Velcro's been trying the same thing: ▶ this video It still won't work in the long run, but I'm very aware now that Velcro is a trademarked name.
in “Adobe Photoshop Source Code (2013)” · View on HN
Is this something like velcro? Where they created an ad to tell people to stop using the name velcro because they'll lose the trademark otherwise? ▶ this video
in “You Can Call the Super Bowl the "Super Bowl"” · View on HN
After reading the post about Super Bowl [0] I remembered the Velcro advertisement [1] and wondered what else are genericized trademarks. I think everyone is aware that Velcro, Kleenex, post-it are trademarks, even though they are used for off-brand products colloquially. In Germany people also use Tempo, Tesa, Edding and so on, but most are aware that these are brand names. But I was surprised to find out that names like escalator, cellophane, flip phone, even dry ice, trampoline, dumpster were once brand names! [0] [link] [1] ▶ this video Past submissions: List of Generic Trademarks - [link] - Nov 2021 (0 comments) List of Generic and Genericized Trademarks - [link] - Feb 2021 (3 comments) List of generic and genericized trademarks - [link] - Sep 2017 (0 comments) Brand Names Which Become Generic Names [Wikipedia] - [link] - Jan 2014 (0 comments)
in “List of Generic and Genericized Trademarks” · View on HN
They don't want their trademark turning into a noun (or a verb), just like Velcro doesn't want their trademark to be used to refer to "hook and loop" [1]. It's not unreasonable for them to try to protect their trademark. 1 - ▶ this video
in “LegoOS: A Disseminated, Distributed Operating System” · View on HN
▶ this video Video description, from the Velcro brand YouTube channel: Our Velcro Brand Companies legal team decided to clear a few things up about using the VELCRO® trademark correctly – because they’re lawyers and that’s what they do. 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. 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. #dontsayvelcro
in “OpenAI's H1 2025: $4.3B in income, $13.5B in loss” · View on HN
Does Oracle actually defend it? Isn't the rule behind a trademark that you actually need to enforce it? VELCRO(r) has this song about it: ▶ this video Edit: as I watched the video again I finally caught on the fact that RollerBlades are a brand of inline-skates. In Belgium we called them inline-skates. It's interesting to see how brands-as-identifiers change based on language and countries. My Walloon friend calls tape Scotch, but I don't.
in “Oracle, it's time to free JavaScript” · View on HN