You can't TiVo with a TiVo?

Now that the rest of the world has stolen TiVo's product (Digital Video Recording set top boxes) and business plan - TiVo is fighting to defend the only thing they have left: their name. Drudge is reporting tonight that TiVo is sending out cease and desist orders to websites that use "TiVo" as a verb. Shades of the "you can't xerox a xerox on a Xerox" ad campaign.

I guess I'm as guilty as anyone for misusing their trademark (note the difference between misusing a trademark and trademark infringement, something I am NOT guilty of...). Unfortunately for them, once a mark suffers "genericide" and becomes the everyday term for something (it almost happened to Xerox) - the mark is (basically) not projectable as a trademark. My sad prediction: 5 years from now, all that will be left of TiVo (the company) will be tivo (the verb). God speed little TiVo.

(Disclosure statement: Ryan has a Motorola 6412 DVR box from his cable company.)