Genericization is a form of semantic broadening that occurs in brand names. In contemporary language and discourse, the word Photoshop has broadened to not only refer to the particular Adobe software but also to the action of manipulating or altering an image. This study aims to investigate the evolution of Photoshop and how it developed from having a specific referent to broaden and be used as a generic term within the category dealing with digital images and their alteration. The study investigates this by applying Clankie’s (2002) four hypotheses to a data set of 798 concordance lines collected from COCA. The first, second and fourth hypotheses explain the possible “triggers” that can lead to the genericization of a brand name. The third hypothesis puts forward a model that suggests a regular pattern observed within brand names that go through genericization. The investigation concluded that of the three hypotheses regarding the cause of genericization, only one was considered a possible reason for generic use. The other two were not relevant to the case of Photoshop. The results produced for the third hypothesis suggest a separate pattern of genericization. These observations brought forward the issues regarding capitalization as a symbol of generic use.