Since you are reading this you probably know that “Photoshop” is a trademark owned by Adobe, and not just a generic term for any image that has been digitally manipulated. Neither is it a verb, as in “this image has been photoshopped.” If you didn’t know it, Adobe really wants you to know the difference, respect it, and stop using its proprietary brand name as a generic term.
Photoshop has been so popular that it has become synonymous with digital image manipulation and processing. Adobe clearly don’t see this as a compliment and an affirmation of just how widespread its program has become. Their concern is understandable. There have been numerous examples: Bayer’s aspirin, Band-Aid, Rollerblade, Xerox, and, perhaps most famously, Google.
This is what happened to all of them:
- Band-Aid – In order to inform consumers Band-Aid is simply one brand of “flexible adhesive bandages,” Johnson and Johnson changed the words of their famous jingle from “I am stuck on BAND-AIDs, ’cause BAND-AID’s stuck on me” to “I am stuck on BAND-AID brand, ’cause BAND-AID’s stuck on me.”
- Xerox – Xerox Corporation ran an ad campaign politely reminding consumers they couldn’t “Xerox a Xerox” – discouraging the use of the brand name as a substitute for the verb “photocopy”
- Google – The search giant has its own policy on only using the word “Google” as an adjective – never as a noun or verb or in the plural or possessive form – and that generic term must follow the trademark. People should say “Google search engine” “Google search” or “Google web search” or similar.
- Rollerblade – Rollerblade USA defends its ubiquitous in-line skate brand by sending “cease and desist” letters to publications which use the trademark as a verb.
Now, Adobe is at pains to spells out all the ways you should and shouldn’t use its trademarks on its website, but it has dedicated a special section exclusively to how you should and shouldn’t use the term “Photoshop”. “Trademarks are not verbs … are not nouns,” says Adobe. How so? You can say “This was enhanced using Adobe Photoshop software,” says the company, but it doesn’t want to see the phrase, “The image was photoshopped.”
Here’s the entire section:
Now, if you look closely, you can see the problem here. No one looks at a badly manipulated image of Madonna and said, “That looks like it was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software” instead of “That looks photoshopped.” That’s just not how language works.
But, to give credit where due, Adobe is only targeting use on “packaging, promotional, and advertising materials” on this page.
The takeaway from all this: Adobe’s Photoshop trademark is likely doomed.