The defining ideal I X of a set of points X in P n 1 × . . . × P n k is investigated with a special emphasis on the case when X is in generic position, that is, X has the maximal Hilbert function. When X is in generic position, the degrees of the generators of the associated ideal I X are determined. ν(I X ) denotes the minimal number of generators of I X , and this description of the degrees is used to construct a function v(s; n 1 , . . . , n k ) with the property that ν(I X ) v(s; n 1 , . . . , n k ) always holds for s points in generic position in P n 1 × . . . × P n k . When k = 1, v(s; n 1 ) equals the expected value for ν(I X ) as predicted by the ideal generation conjecture. If k 2, it is shown that there are cases with ν(I X ) > v(s; n 1 , . . . , n k ). However, computational evidence suggests that in many cases ν(I X ) = v(s; n 1 , . . . , n k ).