The company has hit the news recently as it struggles with falling sales and rising debts. Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Retail at the consultancy GlobalData, notes that "The company could go bust without a rapid cash injection - and with such a well-known brand name, the prospect of a retail giant like Walmart or even Amazon swooping in cannot be ruled out".
So what might become of the TUPPERWARE name?
TUPPERWARE has been used as a brand name for Earl Tupper's storage containers since the 1940s, however it seems that many of us simply use this trade mark when referring to any old storage pots. By becoming a common name for plastic storage boxes, it appears TUPPERWARE may be sliding towards 'genericide'. This is the term for when a trade mark becomes the generic word for a certain type of product itself, rather than serving to identify the maker of that product.
Take for example ESCALATOR: this was originally a registered trade mark owned by the Otis Elevator Company that they used for the innovative transporting devices. However, as ESCALATOR became the generic word used by the public for these types of transporters, the mark could no longer serve its purpose - ESCALATOR could no longer indicate products produced exclusively by the Otis Elevator Company.
Further examples of trade marks which have suffered this fate include:
- SELLOTAPE
- TRAMPOLINE
- HOVERCRAFT
- VIDEOTAPE
- FLIP PHONE
- DRY ICE
For trade mark owners, it is worth remembering that Section 1 of the UK Trade Marks Act sets out that trade marks be capable of distinguishing the products of one company from another. Delving deeper, Section 46(1)(c) also provides that a trade mark registration may be revoked if the owner's activities (or inactivity) have caused it to become the common name in the trade for a product or service for which it is registered.
Returning to the troubled TUPPERWARE, Catherine Shuttleworth, founder of retail analysis firm Savvy Marketing, acknowledges its apparent genericide commenting that "We use it as a noun, which is quite unusual for a brand...I think a lot of younger people will be surprised it is a brand in itself".
If the TUPPERWARE trade mark's well-known status has spilled over into genericism, this will threaten its validity and decrease its financial value, both spelling further troubles for the struggling business.
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