Really trivial info

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

The recent Plastigage thread provoked my twisted legal mind and I bless 
this digest with the following insight:

The reason companies misspell names of things is that trade mark and 
copyright cannot be obtained over ordinary English words or phrases. 
However, a coined word not previously used in the language can easily 
achieve that protection as can a turn of phrase that does not mean anything 
in English but can be designed to mean something particular with enough 
clever advertising. Basic rule is you cannot trade mark English words (for 
obvious reasons).

In the US, even a trade mark can become so generic as to lose its special 
nature. "Aspirin" which is an invented word belonging to the giant Beyer 
drug company of Germany is a famous example. Kleenex is a perhaps more 
prozaic (hah, great pun by typo, I say) one. Indeed, in Canada, Aspirin is 
still a protected proprietary name for Acetylsalicylic acid (yeah well 
spelled something like that, you can see Beyer's point eh?) and thus all 
imitations must be identified by some other brand name. Most generic 
"aspirin" is labelled ASA in Canada.

"Exxon" and more recently "accenture" are two good examples of a bunch of 
money spent to find a protectable trade mark that kinda sounds like 
something important. The former is the "new" name for what used to be 
called Esso (and still is in Canada) which in turn was coined from S.O. 
(you remember the seven sisters, Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company ) 
and is now part of the name of the biggest oil company in the world Exxon 
Mobil Corporation. The latter is the new name of the business consulting 
firm Andersen and is meant to connote God knows what, note the clever use 
of all lower case connoting sophisticated e business expertise.

Alfa connection: be understanding when ARDONA or FIAT seems a little heavy 
handed in your fair land when laying on the muscle to protect its trade 
marked name Alfa Romeo. In the US, it is much easier to lose these rights 
than in most of the industrialized world.

Fascinating eh?


Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

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