Scott Duke Kominers, Columnist

Velcro Is Too Sticky for Its Own Good

Fame can jeopardize a brand's trademark protection. That can be good for the rest of us.

October 17, 2017 at 3:03 PM UTC

Scott Duke Kominers is the MBA Class of 1960 Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate of the Harvard University department of economics.

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Velcro has a problem. It’s so famous and popular that its name has turned into an everyday word.

That’s a problem that many startups would love to have. Companies have lots to gain when their names become terms for concepts like search, teleconferencing, and shipping.1508248531601