It was in the 1930s that DuPont officials gained a curious insight: sometimes, in order to protect the company name it was important not to trademark a product. Early in the decade the company trademarked its new synthetic rubber as DuPrene, but found it could not safeguard the integrity of the product name. DuPrene was an unprocessed material, and unreliable manufacturers who produced poor goods threatened to give the product and DuPont a bad reputation. As a result, DuPont abandoned the trademark in 1936 and applied the generic name “neoprene” to distinguish it as an original ingredient, not a finished product. DuPont applied similar logic when it chose not to trademark the revolutionary synthetic fiber nylon.
DuPont learned another important lesson in the rules of trademark registration during the 1930s. In 1936 the company sued Sylvania for marketing a plastic wrap using the DuPont trade name cellophane. Sylvania argued that no other common name for the material existed. The court agreed, finding that DuPont had not properly protected its trademark by distinguishing the branded product from the generic cellulose film. The company responded to the defeat by strengthening and expanding the Legal Department’s trademark division.
The economic boom after World War II unleashed a new wave of consumer buying and corresponding concern over branding and trademarks. Increasing competition in the chemical industry, particularly in the production of synthetic fibers, made trademarking a crucial means of establishing a product’s identity while ensuring legal protection and winning the loyalty of consumers. DuPont sewed up the postwar synthetic textile market with Orlon acrylic fiber and Dacron polyester fiber, both with names reminiscent of nylon, but trademarked since corporate officials now believed that DuPont’s reputation as a quality fibers manufacturer was secure. But the marketability of a brand name itself was becoming increasingly important. When DuPont introduced a new elastomeric fiber called “Fiber K” in 1958, it received little attention from consumers. Reintroduced two years later as Lycra, the fiber was an immediate success.