It's from facsilimile - but the first commercial product and the first to include the 'fax' was Xerox's MAGNAFAX, although they seem to have used the term LDX rather than FAX for the process.
Coca cola famously won a case preventing others calling themselves "Coke" but lost the Cola part when it was shown that they regarded it as a general term for any similar drink. I suspect Apple's lawyers are more careful when anybody else tries to call a tablet a something-PAD.
It's shortened from facsilimile, which is from the Latin "fac simile" as I said. It was always a description, not a brand name.
Coca-Cola can prevent other companies from calling their products "coke" - but there aren't companies out there calling their products "Xerox" or "Kleenex". Their problem is that consumers refer to other products using their brand names, so the fact that Coca-Cola have preserved their trademark is irrelevant if there are people (and there are) who see a bottle of Pepsi and say "I'm going to grab a coke".
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It's from facsilimile - but the first commercial product and the first to include the 'fax' was Xerox's MAGNAFAX, although they seem to have used the term LDX rather than FAX for the process.
Coca cola famously won a case preventing others calling themselves "Coke" but lost the Cola part when it was shown that they regarded it as a general term for any similar drink. I suspect Apple's lawyers are more careful when anybody else tries to call a tablet a something-PAD.
It's shortened from facsilimile, which is from the Latin "fac simile" as I said. It was always a description, not a brand name.
Coca-Cola can prevent other companies from calling their products "coke" - but there aren't companies out there calling their products "Xerox" or "Kleenex". Their problem is that consumers refer to other products using their brand names, so the fact that Coca-Cola have preserved their trademark is irrelevant if there are people (and there are) who see a bottle of Pepsi and say "I'm going to grab a coke".