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Copyright |
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©2005 Jason Cross
All Rights Reserved
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 Monday, March 10, 2003 |
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Bowser (the programmer at Lighthouse, not the King of the Koopas): The guy from Xerox sued to get the term Xerox not used for photocopying, right?
Me: Yeah, copyright infringement. Not wanting to lose their copyright by allowing the word to become a public term.
Bowser: And the same happened with Rollerblades, now calling it "inline skating"...
Me: Right.
Bowser: So what do the people who make Spam - the meat - think of the use of the word "spam" for junk mail?
And now, here is his answer, straight from the horse's mouth, or at least Hormel's corporate web site:
Spam and the Internet
You've probably seen, heard or even used the term "spamming" to refer to the act of sending unsolicited commercial email (UCE), or "SPAM" to refer to the UCE itself. Following is our position on the relationship between UCE and our trademark SPAM.
Use of the term "SPAM" was adopted as a result of the Monty Python skit in which a group of Vikings sang a chorus of "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM . . . " in an increasing crescendo, drowning out other conversation. Hence, the analogy applied because UCE was drowning out normal discourse on the Internet.
We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be used in all lower-case letters to distinguish it from our trademark SPAM, which should be used with all uppercase letters.
This slang term does not affect the strength of our trademark SPAM. In a Federal District Court case involving the famous trademark STAR WARS owned by LucasFilms, the Court ruled that the slang term used to refer to the Strategic Defense Initiative did not weaken the trademark and the Court refused to stop its use as a slang term. Other examples of famous trademarks having a different slang meaning include MICKEY MOUSE, to describe something as unsophisticated; TEFLON, used to describe President Reagan; and CADILLAC, used to denote something as being high quality.
Position Statement on "Spamming"
We oppose the act of "spamming" or sending unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE). We have never engaged in this practice, although we have been victimized by it. If you have been one of those who has received UCE with a return address using our website address of SPAM.com, it wasn't us. It's easy and commonplace for somebody sending UCE to simply adopt a fake header ID, which disguises the true source of the UCE and makes it appear that it is coming from someone else. If you have or do receive UCE with this header ID, please understand that it didn't come from us.
Other "SPAM" Websites
This is the one and only official SPAM Website, brought to you by the makers of SPAM Luncheon Meat. All of the others have been created by somebody else. We are not associated with those other websites and are not responsible for their content. As a Company, we are opposed to content that is obscene, vulgar or otherwise not "family friendly." We support positive family values and you can count on us for "safe surfing" by your children.
Thank you for visiting the official SPAM Website!
Note to self -- never mention the Spam "meat" and a horse's mouth together.
Bowser: Now, Princess Toadstool, you are mine!!!
Ok, so that last part didn't happen, but I couldn't help it. |
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