Trademark distinctiveness both concepts, see Apple Corps and its disputes with Apple, Inc. If a court rules that a trademark has become "generic" through common use (such that the mark no longer performs the essential trademark function and the average consumer no longer considers that exclusive rights attach to it), the corresponding registration may also be ruled invalid. For example, the Bayer company's trademark "Aspirin" has been ruled generic in the United States, so other companies may use that name for acetylsalicylic acid as well (although it is still a trademark in Canada). Xerox for photocopiers and Band-Aid for adhesive bandages are
Asa Townsend Asa Townsend Asa Townsend (c.1775-alive 1851) was an early settler in Westminster Township near what became the City of London, Ontario. His lands ultimately became incorporated in London's Springbank Park. By the 1820s he removed westward to settle on the bank of the Ausable River in what later became Bosanquet Township in Lambton County. Here he operated a salt well. He and his wife—whose name is not known—are credited with being the first white settlers in the area of the present village of Arkona, Ontario. Asa was still living at the time of the 1851 Bosanquet Township assessment, living just