Lesley A. Wallerstein, LLC is watching with interest to see whether another familiar registered trademark will be declared generic. This year: Velcro®. Inventor George de Mestral observed burs sticking to his clothing. He studied the little balls under a microscope and discovered the burs had tiny rigid hooks that clung to the fibers of his clothing. While no one wants burs attached to our clothing, we do often want to attach other things.

De Mestral took his idea to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and in 1961 was granted this patent for a “hook and loop separable fastener.” One side consists of a dense nap of tiny and rigid bur-like hooks. The other side is a soft and velvety field of loops. The French word for hook is “crochet;” the French word for velvet is “velour.” De Mestral famously mashed the two words together to form the word Velcro. Interestingly as I typed “velcro” into Microsoft Word, it immediately auto-corrected me with a capital V. De Mestral first registered the word “velcro” before his patent was granted, in 1958.

Most of us are familiar with the word “velcro.” Some understand and use it as a specific brand of hook and loop fastener. Others use the word to describe any and all hook and loop fasteners. So, is “Velcro” generic? 62 years and 23 other trademark registrations later, a New York LLC called NHDNC forced the question. They formally applied to register the mark “Sport Velcro Wholesalers” for hook and loop fasteners, setting up this challenge. You might say they are sticking it to Velcro. NHDNC, LLC comprises two New York intellectual property litigation attorneys: Serge Krimnus and his law partner Andrew Bochner.

Predictably, the examining attorney assigned to their application denied Sport Velcro Wholesalers™ on the grounds of likelihood of confusion. NHDNC, LLC responded by, in 2020, asking the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel the main Velcro® registration on grounds of genericness. After over 5 years of procedural wrangling, the Board will hear arguments on January 22, 2026.

How would you decide?