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THE LITTLE TRADEMARK THAT DID: Many companies have successfully preserved their trademarks, despite the fact that their brand names have become virtually synonymous with an entire product category and are often applied -- incorrectly -- to products made by other manufacturers. It remains to be ssen what effect, if any, the Monopoly decision will have on them. Some examples are:

Band-Aid (Johnson & Johnson) Q-tips, Vaseline (Chesebrough Ponds Inc.)

Coke (The Coca-Cola Co.) Ritz crackers (Nabisco Brands Inc.)

Formica (American Cyanamid Co.) Scotch tape (3M)

Jeep (Jeep Corp.) Styrofoam (Dow Chemical Co.)

Jell-O (General Foods Corp.) Technicolor (Technicolor Inc.)

Kleenex (Kimberly-Clark Corp.) Teflon, Orlon (E. I. DePont de Nemours & Co.)

Magic Marker (Berol Corp.) Windbreaker (Men's Wear International Inc.)

Ping-Pong (Parker Bros.) Xerox (Xerox Corp.)

THE LITTLE TRADEMARK THAT DIDN'T: Monopoly has a lot of company in the ranks of former trademarks. Indeed, some of the most common nouns in the English language started out as brand names before going generic. They include:

aspirin escalator shredded wheat

cellophane kerosene thermos

celluloid lanolin yo-yo

cola milk of magnesia zipper