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

Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
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!) 



Let's say, though, that you were in a shop that didn't carry
Hoover brand vacuum cleaners and you were in a geographic
area where "hoover" is used as a generic noun. If you said
"We're here to look at hoovers", do you think that the sales-
person would always say "We don't carry Hoover"? Or do you
think some would say "We have some lovely models right here"?
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. 



I'm not sure why you see this as unreasonable power. The
company has trademarked the name and own it. To me, the
problem with this comes in when ludicrous trademarks are
granted for generic words that people should have a right
to use generically (like Windows). But a product brand name
like Frigidaire or BlackBerry is an asset of a company and
I don't think it's unreasonable for them to try to protect it.

-- Janice

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Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
janice.gelb@xxxxxxx  | this message is the return address
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