Slashdot Mirror
When Trademark Protection Gets Ridiculous
An anonymous reader writes: "Sellotape New Zealand Limited have recently sent out a number of letters to New Zealanders who have used the word 'Sellotape' on their websites. Sellotape is a brand of adhesive tape. It appears they are attempting to crack down on the use of their trademark in a colloquial/generic sense out of fear that their Trademark value is being diluted and that they may even lose the rights to the mark under proposed new New Zealand legislation. Many of those who have received these letters and/or heard about it regard this as monumentally stupid. One such group of individuals has gone as far as setting up a web-site dedicated to parodying the situation and informing the New Zealand public what they can do to fight back against these 'Big Business Bullies.'"
Unfortunatly some of the fault rests with the government in this case. They really don't leave the company that much of a choice, either sue the people who are using it in a generic way, or lose substantial rights to the mark.
... when I read a manual (yes! some of us do read 'em) and continually see blah(TM) this blah® that in every sentence. There's just no need.
So it's more a case of watering-down the documentation than watering down the trademark recognition.
And anyway, in some parts of the world (Oz, for one) the name for Sellotape is actually Durex, which also happens to be the brand of condoms sold in the UK. In other words, people *know* what the product is, because of the context in which it is used. We don't need (TM) or ® to remind us!