Smell Of Fresh Cut Grass Trademarked

outlier writes: "One of the few things that couldn't be trademarked or patented has been scents. This has allowed companies to produce inexpensive perfumes that smell like expensive ones. That may change soon, as this article in The Times of London points out. A company just received a trademark for the "smell of fresh cut grass." They're making smelly tennis balls... "

Comments

You cut your grass - I sue you!

[PenguinX]

Is it just me, or is there a serious lack of thought put into legal systems these days? Has humankind finally built up so much history, tradition, and legal mish mash that we have totally abandoned common sense? I'm no legal expert but the point of patents are to protect IP for a certian amount of valuable time. Patent abuse is on a worldwide high because as I see it - with a population of 6 billion there is bound to be someone, or a group, or an entire species with your ideas. I really think that the patent laws need to be stripped out and rewritten in the USA. I know little about G.B. - but it sounds similar.

Not patent, you dummies!

[Russ Nelson]

Sheesh! They didn't get a patent, they got a trademark. And it only applies to tennis balls, so you're free to get a trademark on computers that smell of newly-mown grass, if you want. There's fourty-some-odd fields of enterprise, each of which has its own trademark namespace, so to speak.
-russ

ATTENTION: Trademark Not Patent.

[Carnage4Life]

Okay everyone take a deep breathe and reread the article. They aren't giving patents for natural smells but instead allowing companies to trademark the combination of their product and a particular smell (e.g. the smell of beer on a dart, the smell of grass on a tennis ball and smell of roses on tyres). This is very different from the company being giving a patent on the smell of grass.

PS: It is still an unsavory practice that may lead to an unwelcome trend in the future but in its current incarnation it isn't as bad as most slashdotters are making it out to be.

Re:ATTENTION: Trademark Not Patent.

[Ed Avis]

It's bad because the 'trademark' is on the product itself, not on any particular name or brand.

The idea with trademarks is that you can have competition, as long as people aren't misled by products which claim to be brand X but aren't. If you buy Coca-Cola(tm) you know what you are getting.

However, with a trademark on the smell, nobody else can make grass-smelling tennis balls. Not even if they call them something else and make it clear that they are a different manufacturer. The trademark laws are meant to protect consumers, but here it is consumers who are losing out due to lack of competition.

It's funny how sensible practices like trademarks, patents and so on always seem to degenerate into 'monopoly for sale' schemes.

Stop the World! I want to get off!

[jabber]

Maybe there's a problem with someone trademarking the smell of freshly cut grass... Maybe it's wrong to patent a smell...

What gets me is WHY IN GOD'S NAME would anyone want lawn-scented tennis balls in the first place? What the freak is the point of scented tennis balls? I mean, their default rubbery smell is just fine.

I have to figure this out - bear with me. If I were an avid tennis player (and I'm and SO not!) I would tend to keep my tennis balls in my gym bag - along with socks, a towel, sneakers, whathaveyou. It would probably get pretty rank in there after a few days in the trunk..

Maybe deodorant scented tannis balls wouldn't be such a bad idea - but grass? Why? The smell of grass does nothing to offset the smell of sweat and feet. Lemons maybe, perhaps 'Summer Meadow' or some other MegaMarketting BS... Possibly the ubiquitous PINE. But grass? I just don't get it.

[rant=on]
On a side note: I saw something in the super market the other day, that I found both fall-down-funny, and horrific at the same time.

Vanilla-scented-candle-scented-air-freshening- spray! Think that through for a minute. A spray scented to smell like a candle, scented to smell like vanilla. My GF had to drag me out of the chemical isle, because I couldn't stop staring at this stupid thing...

In retrospect, it was a great way to make a geek's head explode. It's just one of those things, like an endless loop or an infinite recursion - like telling a [insert ethnic group] to stand in the corner of the Oval Office...

WHY?? Why make something that smells like something that smells like something else?? Why artifically scent something to smell like something that is artficially scented to smell like something natural?

And isn't the point of an air-deodorizer to de-odorize the air? How can you de-odorize something by adding new odors to it?
[rant=off]

Sometimes I think people come up with these ideas on a bet. "Hey Joe, I bet you can't get people to buy tennis balls that smell like their LAWN!" "Oh yeah, Frank? I bet I can!!"