atw: Re: BlackBerry devices? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Yes, the example of Hoover's one that occurred to me too. But last time I 
bought a vacuum cleaner, the Hoover brand was certainly well represented 
in the shop and I'd have thought their credibility was enhanced, not 
damaged, by having a name that's a household word. (And we bought one!)

A more interesting example might be Post-its. I believe these were 
invented by 3M, but other companies have been quick to copy them - and to 
undercut 3M's high prices. But the name's well on its way to becoming 
generic.  I don't know if they had a patent on the product, but they've 
obviously trademarked the name. And the interesting part is that we, as a 
society, seem to accept that the laws on trademarks can be used, not only 
to prevent others using the same name for their product (which seems quite 
reasonable), but also to dictate how everyone uses the name - even people 
not purveying any rival product, and even down to telling us the proper 
morphology and syntax. 

Where do these people get off? It's not quite as bad as the biotech 
companies who buy up seed merchants in the Third World and patent the 
product, so people have to plant their product or nothing, but it's the 
same mindset. 

Yes, it is our responsibility as tech writers to make sure our words 
aren't the subject of lawsuits, but that doesn't mean we can't object to 
laws that give companies unreasonable power. 

Howard



Dave Reynolds <dave.reynolds@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
19/07/2007 11:48 AM
Please respond to
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


To
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
cc

Subject
atw: Re: BlackBerry devices?  [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Topic





TRIM File Ref










Another example would be the "Hoover" brand of vacuum cleaner.  When I
was a kid people would usually talk about doing the "hoovering" with the
"hoover", not "vacuuming" with the vacuum cleaner.  Showing my age here
;-) .

Janice Gelb wrote, on 19/07/2007 1:37 p.m.:
> In that case, I guess I didn't explain it well enough :->
> Having your product name be a household word is indeed a
> good thing, but only if everyone is aware that it's a specific
> brand. If it becomes a popular generic household word, then
> people don't perceive your brand as being any different than
> any other brand and you've lost your advantage.
>
> For example, there's a brand of refrigerator in the US called
> "Frigidaire." It was one of the earliest refrigerators
> manufactured and in certain regions of the US, people refer
> to refrigerators in general as "frigidaires." But just
> because everyone knows the name "Frigidaire" doesn't help
> the manufacturer sell more. If people need a new refrigerator,
> they're not going to look for the Frigidaire brand -- they
> might not even know that there *is* a Frigidaire brand.
> They're just going to look at general refrigerators.
>
> Crporations want their brand to stand out as the best named
> product of a generic thing, not as the thing itself.
>
> -- Janice
>
> ***********************************************************
> Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
> janice.gelb@xxxxxxx  | this message is the return address
> **************************************************
> To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to
> austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
> austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject
> field.
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field.
>
> To search the austechwriter archives, go to
> www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter
>
> To contact the list administrator, send a message to
> austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> **************************************************

--
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dave Reynolds                         Phone: (64) (3) 358 1029
Senior Technical Author               Fax: (64) (3) 359 4632
Tait Electronics Ltd                  Email: dave.reynolds@xxxxxxxxxx
PO Box 1645
Christchurch
New Zealand


=======================================================================
This email, including any attachments, is only for the intended
addressee.  It is subject to copyright, is confidential and may be
the subject of legal or other privilege, none of which is waived or
lost by reason of this transmission.
If the receiver is not the intended addressee, please accept our
apologies, notify us by return, delete all copies and perform no
other act on the email.
Unfortunately, we cannot warrant that the email has not been
altered or corrupted during transmission.
=======================================================================

**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to 
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to 
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: