[IP] one last gem: Spam-maker loses bid to trademark 'spam'

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bill Daul <bdaul@pacbell.net>
Date: October 12, 2006 5:21:24 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: one last gem: Spam-maker loses bid to trademark 'spam'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/security/spammaker-wants-us-to-stop- 
calling-pesky-emails-spam/2006/10/12/1160246238013.html


 Spam-maker loses bid to trademark 'spam'

October 12, 2006 - 12:33PM

The producer of the canned pork product Spam has lost a bid to claim  
the word as a trademark for unsolicited emails.

EU trademark officials rejected Hormel Foods Corp's appeal, dealing  
the company another setback in its struggle to prevent software  
companies from using the word "spam" in their products, a practice it  
argued was diluting its brand name.

The European Office of Trade Marks and Designs, noting that the vast  
majority of the hits yielded by a Google search for the word made no  
reference to the food, said that "the most evident meaning of the  
term SPAM for the consumers ... will certainly be unsolicited,  
usually commercial email, rather than a designation for canned spicy  
ham."

The word Spam short for "Spiced Ham" was coined by Hormel in 1937 as  
part of a marketing campaign so successful the word became virtually  
synonymous with canned meat.

...
...


--
Bill Daul

Chief Collaboration Officer
NextNow Collaboratory:  a synergistic web of relationships focused on  
transforming the present

http://www.human-landscaping.com
"Play with boundaries, not within."


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