generic "Websters"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 7/19/99 12:24:03 PM, jester at PANIX.COM writes:

<< The name "Webster's" has been generic since 1915 (not
1910, as I erroneously wrote in my previous message),
according to the Supreme Court. Those people in
Massachusetts have had some time to get used to it. >>

My memory is that Merriam retained some rights to the name. At any rate, I
wasn't using generic in the weaker legal sense of the term, but rather in the
stronger linguistic sense in which, say, aspirin or kleenex is thought of as
the primary term for the item, or if not the primary term then at least a
full-fledged synonym, e.g., or xerox = photocopy.