Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 12626

Hormel fights to defend Spam name
Friday, July 4, 2003 Posted: 11:03 AM EDT (1503 GMT)


AUSTIN, Minnesota (AP) -- Hormel Foods has filed two legal challenges with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeking to prevent Spam Arrest, a Seattle software company, from using the Spam name Hormel has used for decades on its canned meat.

The trouble began about six months ago when Spam Arrest, which specializes in blocking junk e-mail or spam, filed papers to trademark its corporate name.

Hormel sent the company a warning, telling it to drop its use of Spam, which is trademark-protected. Spam Arrest refused.

"If you ask most people on the street, they're going to say junk e-mail as opposed to the luncheon meat as their first description of what spam is. I think they're overstepping their bounds," said Brian Cartmell, chief executive of Spam Arrest.

What are Hormel's chances?

Cartmell says his company's use of the word has nothing to do with Hormel's product. Hormel officials disagree, arguing that the company has carefully protected and invested in the brand name.

Hormel also argues that use of the name by other companies could potentially harm its business, and that the public could confuse the meat product with the technology company.

Douglas Wood, who practices intellectual property law in New York, estimates Hormel has only a 50-50 chance of prevailing. He points to a recent case involving Victoria's Secret and a male adult novelty shop called Victor's Secret. Victoria's Secret sued, using the trademark infringement argument. But Wood says ultimately the company lost in court.

"The court in that case was saying, even though they may have a famous mark, Victoria's Secret, and may have a particular association as soon as you hear it, Victor's Secret was not enough -- the confusion or potential damage to their mark -- to constitute infringement," Wood said.

Don't use pictures of Spam

Hormel acknowledges one of its most famous brand names has taken on new meaning, and in the past has made efforts to accomodate the Net community's use of the term, which was derived from a skit on Monty Python's Flying Circus. On its official Spam Web site, the company outlines what it considers acceptable use of the word. Its guidelines include referring to the potted-meat product in capital letters.

It says it doesn't object to the use of spam to describe unsolicited commercial e-mail. But the company does object to the use of pictures of its product used in association with the e-mail term.

Hormel's trademark lawsuit against Spam Arrest will be heard by the Trademark Trial and Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. No date has been set.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/intern...l.ap/index.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's just call it hormel from now on.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Zion
Posts: 4450

Hormel should feel grateful for the free advertising. Lord knows that "pork shoulder and ham" cannot stand alone.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Posts: 1055

I figure, they have some grounds, because I've always assumed that that's where the term comes from. Spam being the meat that made up of what's left over from the good stuff, just as the junk e-mail we receive everyday is what's left over from the e-mails we actually WANT to read.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

Hormel also sued the makers of the movie "Muppet Treasure Island" a few years ago for having a pig named Spam as the villian. The lawsuit was dismissed by the judge, who commented that if anything Hormel ought to be grateful to have their product associated with a genuine source of meat.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35572

I think that they have something of a point, to be honest, in the logical sense. Don't know what the courts will say, though.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged