Slashdot Mirror
Spam Lawsuit's Last Laugh is at Hormel's Expense
Brian Cartmell writes "An article at the Minneapolis — StarTribune site covers a significant setback for the Hormel food company, in a case that's being closely watched by security companies across the country. Seattle-based Spam Arrest has gone up against the creator of the food substance in court, fighting for the right to use the word spam in its company name. The US Trademark Trial and Appeal board has sided with the spam fighters, agreeing that consumers of the Spam product would never confuse the food with junk email. 'Derek Newman, Spam Arrest's attorney, said the decision opens the door for many other anti-spam software companies ... "Spam Arrest fought this battle for the whole software industry," Newman said.'"
Too bad they spam people who use their service or email their customers: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04457.html
I think the point of the ruling is that it's NOT at Hormel's expense, since no one confuses junk mail with canned meat.
Plus, I don't know if it should really be considered a victory for the software industry that companies don't have to come up with creative names.
My Freakin Blog
consumers of the Spam product would never confuse the food with junk email
I went to see Spam-a-lot in the theatre. Much to my horror it wasn't about junk email or an out of control food product, it was about some bloody knights or something like that.
I'm going to appeal.
Summation 2
And all this time I thought the emails "Give her more meat" were from Hormel..
Spam Arrest could change their name to Arrest Arrest Arrest Arrest Spam Arrest; that's got less spam in it.
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
This story is not complete without a gratuitous link to the Monty Python Spam sketch!
And yet Slashdot still has a spam (note lowercase 's') icon which looks like a piggy with a brick of presumably Spam as part of its body, where formerly the icon was indeed a can of Spam.
Well played Slasdot!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I wonder if using the term, " Pepsi" to refer to bait-and-switch schemes would fare as well in a court of law.
do-do. do-do-do-do-do-do. Next they'll sue Monty Python. Hooray for no ownership of generic and ambiguous words! Spam spam spam spam spam. Spam spam spam spam spam. Spam. Spam spam spam spam.
I like bread and butter.
I like toast and jam.
I like those good and simple things,
and that's why I like SPAM!
The game.
Since when is Spam considered food? Sorry, couldn't resist.
I've heard it's from the Monty Python "Spam" sketch, but I've also heard it's a British thing from WWII - "Spam - everybody gets it, nobody wants it." - Does anybody have a definitive origin? Like the bug in Grace Hoppers log book?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
I wonder if anti drug groups at some point had to fight the same trademark battle with Coke (and lost, since I don't think any anti drug groups today have the word 'Coke' in them)? Of course the Coke (tm) name is actually historically associated with the coca plant, unlike SPAM (tm) and its spam counterpart which have no obvious connection except cultural non sequiturism.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
Apple Records (a 'music' company) sued Apple Computer (a 'computer' company) over the name thing. Apple Records initially didn't do much about Steve Jobs use of their name back when Apple records was the big dog and Apple Computer was a nobody because no one would ever confuse computers with music. Right. Apple Records has pretty much been eclipsed by Apple Computer now and Jobs won the latest trademark dispute thanks to so many years of using the Apple name. Hormel will lose their famous 'SPAM' brand if they don't fight (and they may still lose it anyway even if they do.) If Hormel loses, we will no longer know if we are getting the genuine SPAM, or an imitator, when we go the supermarket.
Lameness filter encountered.
Your comment violated the "postercomment" compression filter. Try less whitespace and/or less repetition. Comment aborted.
Best Slashdot Co
So I could start a company that cleans up dog shit and call it Microsoft Scoopers?
To get me to eat it at dinner
They said I'd grow up like Bruce Jenner
He was a winner that never knew defeat
And when he got hungry
When he got hungry
He cracked open that special treat
Spam
-Save Ferris
You missed the 'a' at the end.
The history of Pepsi was that it was introduced as a curative for dyspepsia, so the makers of Pepsi probably wouldn't mind a little publicity on their product's history.
On a related note - Dr. Pepper was created for the same purpose, using prune juice in their recipe.
Been there, Done that, Sold the t-shirt to the next idiot in line
You have to feel a little bit bad for Hormel. Their 60-odd year old brand name has, through no fault of their own, become inextricably associated with a massive, universally despised, worldwide problem. It's one thing to lose a trademark that has become generic, or to have a negative association created because of something the company did. Having the trademark appropriated because of a Monty Python sketch and a bunch of geeks is a bummer.
Disclaimer: I actually *like* SLT's (spam, lettuce, tomato) so I may be biased (or insane).
I remember watching some show on Food network ("Good Eats"? I think.) and they covered a Spam cook off. Some of the recipes seemed actually decent, but mostly tongue-in-cheek acknowledgments that spam is not exactly the best tasting thing in the world. But the funniest thing about is that they interviewed some Hormel exec and the guy had NO SENSE OF HUMOR WHATSOEVER, and was almost visibly agitated at the suggestion that spam is somewhat of a joke. Pity that they don't seem to "get it".
That said, I think that they are somewhat justified in going after people that use "Spam" even in the email context. Most people (even non-IT people) associate "spam" with email nowadays, and I can see a day where people will scratch their heads and wonder why Hormel name a product after junk mail. So it's understandable why they want to defend their brand. Still, I think this is inevitable and they could spin it into good PR if they could just have a sense of humor about it all.
http://bash.org/?902
psxfaQ: -- eating spam
e l i t e m r p: id do that but it wastes too much printer paper
Xerox got over it (eventually), and so will Hormel.
Sometimes brand names become common in everyday language, and there's really nothing anyone can do about it once that name becomes entrenched in popular usage.
I, for one would never confuse food with spam!
Actually, Spam is considered a delicacy in the Pacific Islands. In Hawaii, you can buy Spam sushi from the manapua man. He's a guy who drives around in an ice cream truck selling pork buns, candy, and spam products. I shit you not. Some claim that the Pacific Islander's spam mania comes from their cannabilistic heritage and Spam's taste resemblance to the other, other white meat. I sort of doubt it, I think it's more of a cargo cult type of thing. Magical meat in a can that never goes bad had to have impressed the heck out of tropical islanders when it first arrived.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
If Spam was a gourmet product I could understand Hormel making a case that emails of suspcious quality or content have nothing in common with Spam, the food. However, we all know that the source of the content for either Spam, the email, and Spam, the food is equally as questionable. I think Hormel should be happy about all the free advertising. Spam has become a household name again, returning us to simpler times when people just didn't question the origin of things. Come on Hormel, you're not peddling beluga. Take pride in the fact that you've made millions from peddling random meat scraps and move on.
They had some product out there with a bizzare name. Then the Monty Python skit comes along and satirizes it. That's not so bad really.
But that leads to other people using the name for a different meaning, a meaning garnered from the Monty Python skit rather than the original product. Then the new meaning drowns out their original poduct and takes their name away. Now that hurts.
They didn't cause any of this, and for the most part it was not an intentional attack on them either. They really did not have much recourse at each step because the satire and redefinition were legitimate legal uses. It's all just a sad twist of fate.
Aw well. They can always do what all the SPAMmers do: rename their product and sell it to someone else who does not know any better.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
And right before their roll-out of Maple Smoked Bacn...
You know what?
See the 1978 version of "Dawn of the Dead." Fran discovers a cache of Spam, and expressions discontent. Roger sets her straight, as no one had thought to bring a can opener.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
And your tag line could be "Where Does Your Dog Want To Go Today?" - Heck we don't care we will scoop it up regardless.
What braindead Slashdotter tagged this story with "patents"? It's a trademark issue, not a patent one.
FC Closer
Just curious ... has anyone here ever received unsolicited email advertising canned luncheon meat?
I never have, and I am greatly saddened by that fact.
This would be the same as Microsoft suing window manufactures to quit using the word 'Windows' and substitute the word 'transparency' instead. Or Universal pictures going after Microsoft for stealing the radioman's characters last name of 'Windows' form John Carpenters 'The Thing'.
"I bow to no man" - Riddick
If Hormel is right, then there should be tons people who went to concert venues expecting to be ripped off by PayPal and instead ended up getting stoned and seeing jam a band.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Actually, coming from Ukraine, I was quite amused to see SPAM on the shelves at the stores. Of course, I kind of knew the origin of the term, but somehow I thought that SPAM-the-product was long extinct. Actually, the only reason I bought a can of SPAM once was just that - that act of "buying spam". I really felt amazed that a popular product could be "named after junk email" =)
The next thing that I'd buy in that spirit would probably be a "1337" T-Sirt, signifying Petrarca's visit to Rome in 1337. Or maybe YouTube plumbing kits, MicroSoft small pillows, maybe a Digg shovel (given that these products come into existence some day)
On an unrelated note, my father seems to actually to like spam-like products. I'll defintitely buy him SPAM some day. Then I would be able to make stupid-cheesy jokes, like "My dad doesn't have any spam, he ate it all yesterday" etc.
Until you've had Spambled eggs. Almost as good as sex.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Having my product name become popular, no matter how popular, does not give other people the right to use it without my permission. Hormel was nice when they let people use the term spam, but they didn't have to be. They did defend it at first, but backed off due to strong public opinion. I hope they win on appeal.
Spam may be used to refer to UBE, but that is only because Spam was (and arguably is) a part of our culture, and can't be seen as anything but a huge product success. Hormel used to object to the use of the word spam to refer to UBE, but they backed off out of respect for public opinion. If Hormel is gracious enough to allow the use of the term to refer to things they have nothing to do with, just to get along, it doesn't mean that they give up the right to be the only company with the right to market a product with the name they came up with and popularized.
HORMEL, READ THIS: The obvious solution is to find a way to create your own anti-ube product and market it as "From the makers of good Spam, more goodness in defeating email spam." Heck the product can suck, but you'll have a valid defense against anybody trying to use your product name then, because you can prove your company has an interest in protecting their trademarked name precisely because it could cause confusion. Add a label to to every can of Spam while you're at it, saying "Spam in a can is good, email spam is bad, visit www.hormel.com/spam to download recipes for your software and stove!"
Back in my day when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
And another thing!
Skip the software, just pull together some UBE listings and tools, put the tools and run the servers and make the claim: "We define Spam" which nobody else can say, and which gives you a product that the software makers cannot pretend has nothing to do with you.
Back in my day when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
This decision is a correct one. Trademark law traditionally has, with few exceptions, protected a name only within a specific market context. Now "Spam" is a name in a new context Hormel apparently had not registered the name in (or conducted any business in). Their lawyer(s) need(s) to go back to school.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
That would make sense, but it is wrong. It all started back in the days when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
It was the MP skit, not the cultural feelings about SPAM that caused it. Later references were made back to the skit comparison, eventually it was one of those things that people were supposed to just *know* if they were cool.
See: http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html
Back in my day when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
Hormel used to have a fairly good attitude towards the use of their product name for junk email (and usenet articles). I contacted them about it, and asked for a graphic of their preference so I could put together a little web banner saying "this is spam (junk email; link to an example) and this is Spam(r) (with their graphic as a link to their web page). They granted the request and the person stated that they had no problem at all with it.
They are probably forced into this by the trademark laws which say that they have to protect their trademark against any commercial use by others or risk losing their trademark. They've done something similar to SpamCop, asking to have the use of the word referring to junk email use only lower case "s".
For that, and for the origin of the use of the term (which I believe is inaccurate; I don't think it was Joel Furr who made the first reference to the Python sketch in relation to multiple usenet posts), see the history section of the Wikipedia entry on spam at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
This is precisely why we have international Trademark categories in modern times: So companies in different businesses can have similarly named products, because there's no possible way the two could be confused.
Somehow, I doubt Hormel has a trademark on Spam for the computer software category.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Ok my opinion is that it's silly to award damages on a word that has taken more than one meaning in popular culture. Obviously I'm not *that* clueless because the ruling in this case agrees with my original post. Furthermore, how does the current administrative staff of Slashdot have *anything* to do with any of this? If you have a beef with Slashdot, take it up with them, not me.
In another press release, Hormel marketing executives were at a loss to explain the dismal sales of their new canned seafood product, Phish.
I can't believe no one has mentioned "Spam Spam Spam Iolo" yet! (Yes, you need to be a Ultima6 player to understand that)
For the last time, PIN Number and ATM Machine are redundancies!
I hope this will stop the stupid lawsuits for suing for same name for different products or services. These lawsuits are just waste of people resources and court time so more legitimate lawsuits get delayed. Most of the time these lawsuits the person with the most money and resources win but this ruling proves there is some sanity in the justice system.
actually hormel wins
to protect the SPAM trademark for the meat they had to at least pretend to do something about companies calling it spam.
now it has been ruled that the word spam referring to email is not infringing and frees them of any need to do so.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
All they have to do in order to (a) keep their trademark for their product, and (b) not look like jerks for suing technology companies that want to have "spam" in their names is this:
Give the technology companies, for a nominal fee, a license to use the word "spam" in their name, as long as the technology company does not sell any food products under that name.
This satisfies the legal requirement that they defend their trademark so that if another food company ever tried to market a product with "spam" in the name, they would win, while at the same time allowing technology companies to use the word "spam" in their names.
Not that I consider spam to be an actual food product...
My truck is like a series of tubes.
I thought imitation was the best form of flattery? Guess not when it comes to two things no sane mind really wants...
The thing with trademarks is that they aren't absolute, and are a matter of perception and common use. Their purpose is to distinguish a brand - once the term is more general than the brand, it's no longer a useful trademark.
The SPAM thing is kind of unfortunate for Hormel; at least Kleenex and Xerox ended up associated with something actually related to the original product...
I'd agree with that. If you're ever in Hawaii, try the Kalua Pork, a traditional dish of theirs, and you'll understand instantly why SPAM became so popular once the military brought it in. It is basically shredded pork (traditionally cooked in a pit) that is quite salty and fairly greasy (compared to the modern idea of pork as a lean meat). Of course it's much tastier than processed meat, but there is a definite similarity there.
Spam Arrest is, unfortunately, wasting their time and money. Spam is food and food is more important than software. People need to get their priorities straight.
Americans always pretend that they were the first to do everything, and ignore any field in which there is no way that they can pretend that they were.
That's why Americans are shits.
Of course, there are lots of other ways that Americans ruin the planet as well...