Hormel Sues Over SpamArrest Name 526
slammin'j writes "According to this article from the Star Tribune, Hormel has filed a lawsuit against Spam Arrest LLC. for endangering "substantial goodwill and good reputation" of their meat product, Spam. If Hormel wins, it could be bad news for umpteen companies that make use of the word
spam in their name."
Good reputation? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Interesting)
I hear it's treated with reverence in Hawaii for some reason...
That's because for a while it was about the only meat you could get imported into hawaii. Or something like that. My parents lead a field trip there this past spring and when they got back they explained the hawaii spam connection. Anybody want to expand on my half-remembered explanation?
-sam
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Interesting)
Importing food to Hawaii, Micronesia, etc. is expensive and difficult. Fresh foods, like dairy products and breads, come by boat (too bulky to ship by air, for the most part), but that means a delay of several days to several weeks before they wind up on store shelves. Lots of things go bad in that amount of time, even on refrigerated ships.
Spam, and to a lesser extent, canned meats like corned beef from Australia, fill the need for meat nicely. They stay fresh indefinitely and travel easily without the need for refrigeration. As a result, they're much cheaper than "fresh" meat and much more popular.
(Travel writer Paul Theroux joked in "The Happy Isles of Oceania" that islanders liked Spam because it reminded them of their history of cannibalism. Of course, very few islands ever had a history of cannibalism in the first place, and Theroux admits that he threw the idea out there as a cheap joke, not an anthropological theory.)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Interesting)
SPAM may have become popular back in WW2 because of rationing and shipping issues but today that's really a non-issue, yet it's still popular. I'm guessing the reason it has stayed popular is because it goes well with rice and everyone eats lots of rice in Hawaii.
I'm originally from Hawaii and yes, I like SPAM(the Hormel kind). Although I think Hormel sueing over the SpamArrest name is rather rediculous.
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.modernsurf.com/spam/ [modernsurf.com]
In the beginning Hormel had sold only twenty thousand tons of Spam when World War 2 started; it was during the war that SPAM, like S.O.S. (dried chipped beef on toast, known to soldiers as ?Shit on a Shingle?), became notorious. SPAM was a lendlease staple, sent in such abundance to Allied troops that Nikita Khrushchev later credited it with the survival of the otherwise starving Russian army, a can of SPAM is like heaven after eating a shoe sole. In England, where beef was severely rationed, SPAM was the only meat like matter many families ate for weeks on end.
Hawaii, staging ground for the war in the Pacific, fell so in love with SPAM that to this day, Hawaiians eat an average of six cans per person per year, far more than in any other place on earth. I know a few Hawaiians who eat two cans a week. Because it was unaffected by meat rationing, SPAM was eaten on the American home front in record quantity, too.
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Funny)
Holy crap.
If the Russian troops don't have Spam and starve, the Nazis take Moscow and Russia falls. If Russia falls then the Nazis focus on Britain and it falls. Without Spam, Hilter might have conquered the whole world. I have a new respect for it.
"Because it was unaffected by meat rationing..."
Maybe that should tell people something about its contents.
-B
Re:McDonalds in hawaii (Score:3, Funny)
Spam has some very beneficial uses, in fact I have the montey python mp3 linked on my desktop incase a telemarketer calls. When they ask for the man of the house I ask them to hold and place the phone by my speaker. I've only done it twice but the last time I would pick the phone up and ask "Did he pick up yet? no, gosh i'll find him for you" and set it down, almost had him listen
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Funny)
I bet to the British, Monty Python's skit about the person who doesn't want SPAM was funny because they couldn't believe there was someone that actually didn't like SPAM.
Yes, to the British.
The rest of the civilized world loaths it because it is made from sub-standard, machanically recovered meat that no nutritionally aware person in their right mind would even feed to their dog (not that it'd eat it, anyway). The same goes for corned beaf...
Sorry if I offended any of you Brits? I like your beer though
The real origin of "Spam" (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The real origin of "Spam" (Score:4, Informative)
spam vt.,vi.,n. [from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"] 1.To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also buffer overflow, overrun screw, smash the stack. 2.To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on soc.women). This is often done with cross-posting (e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups). This overlaps with troll behavior; the latter more specific term has become more common. 3.To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically called `ECP', Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net. See also velveeta and jello. 4.To bombard a newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically called `EMP', Excessive Multi-Posting. 5.To mass-mail unrequested identical or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those containing advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses have been culled from network traffic or databases without the consent of the recipients. Synonyms include UCE, UBE. 6.Any large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text might say "Oh no, spam". The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 are now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's email account or network connection. In these senses the term `spam' has gone mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight - there is apparently a widespread myth among lusers that "spamming" is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan.
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Funny)
It comes as no surprise they're taken by surprise (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Informative)
I've flipped through a few magazines marketed towards aspiring fiction writers, and these publications are littered with advertisements by companies demanding that writers reference their products correctly in any works produced. I specifically remember an ad by Hormel requesting that writers refer to Spam as "Hormel Foods Brand SPAM Luncheon Meat" anytime one would want to refer to it in some sort of work of literature.
Also, from the Spam.com Legal and Copyright Info [spam.com] page, I found this hilarious little bit: So if I make up the word "SpamWhore", well, it's owned by Hormel Foods, and should have been spelled SPAMWHORE. Even though they've never registered it. Too funny.
When does fair use ever come to the mind of a corporation?
Re:Good reputation? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Informative)
So if you make
NPR Story with interview with Spamarrest CEO (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Funny)
Alive? Maybe. Well fed? You gotta be kidding!
Re:Good reputation? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:4, Funny)
The trick is that you don't just suck on a brick of it. Stir-fry with veggies and teriyaki sauce or a zillion other recipes. And if you still don't like SPAM, a can in the cupboard can keep you going for ages just like Dwarf bread. (Discworld joke.)
Re:Good reputation? (Score:3, Funny)
"And if you still don't like SPAM, a can in the cupboard can keep you going for ages just like Dwarf bread.
Something along the lines of "I'm hungry, but for the love of God, I'm not that hungry." Repeat that thought process until something better than SPAM is available.
T&K.
Re:from what department? (Score:3, Funny)
To late foo! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:To late foo! (Score:2, Informative)
I would think that the previous outcome would have some kind of effect on this.
Re:To late foo! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:To late foo! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:To late foo! (Score:3, Insightful)
The exception to this is famous marks. Marks that everybody knows and everybody associates with a speci
Re:To late foo! (Score:4, Informative)
If people had read the article [spam.com] on their website regarding use of their tradmark name SPAM, they would also realise how reasonable the company has been [or had to be :) .]
Re:To late foo! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:To late foo! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:To late foo! (Score:3, Funny)
The SPAM Example (Score:3, Insightful)
When Hormel loses the battle, and every variation of the word spam can be registered by others as a trademark, then Hormel will be held up as yet another example of why companies should not be generous with use of their trademarks, and why they have to be aggressive in suing over property rights issues.
Personally, I hope Hormel wins and that spamArrest will have to come up with a different name for their product.
Re:I read, but (Score:5, Insightful)
-- Rich
Re:Too late foo! (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe I should trademark the letter 'E'.
rk.. havn't you hard? Thr's alrady a tradmark on that lttr. B carful man.. you don't wanna gt sud for copyright infringmnt..
Re:Too late foo! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:To late foo! (Score:4, Funny)
The onion (Score:2)
I'm just surprised Hormel didn't start suing people ages ago for the negative uses of the word spam.
Re:The onion (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's give Hormel some credit here (Score:4, Insightful)
People keep saying that Hormel hasn't been defending their trademark, but it seems to me that they have established a clear policy on their site about how the feel about their trademark, and they've stuck consistently to it. In short, if you use "spam" generically, they don't care. If you use it in a way that associates it with their product (i.e. images of the product, or SPAM in all caps as they always do it), they'll come after you.
In this case, somebody wants to trademark the name, and they are fighting that. It seems reasonable that two trademarks containing the word "spam" could be more of a threat than widespread, non-trademarked generic usage. Their position seems reasonable and consistent. Maybe wrong, maybe right, but reasonable.
And I think that they should be given a lot of credit for this. It they were really sending out C&D letters consistently for years and years, they'd be one more of the many companies regularly mocked and griped about on /., but they haven't been. They've only taken legal action in rare cases that are more likely to affect them directly. They're using common sense, and keeping their lawyers in check, but not signing away their rights. Let's give them some credit.
it's about time... (Score:4, Funny)
ick. (Score:5, Funny)
Don't they already endanger the goodwill and "good" reputation by calling it a "meat product"?
Mike
Re:ick. (Score:2)
http://www.detritus.org/spam/skit.html
Re:ick. (Score:3, Interesting)
I bet the Python skit actually increased sales! But I can honestly say that receiving unsolicited email has never given me the craving for their canned meat product.
Re:ick. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ick. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:but it's not (Score:5, Informative)
SPAM is a canned meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation company that has entered into folklore. SPAM luncheon meat is also used as an artistic medium in SPAM carving contests.
The labeled ingredients on the original SPAM are chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar and sodium nitrite.
A Hormel official once stated that the original source of the name SPAM was "Shoulder of Pork And haM".
I seem to recall that the story was that the shoulder meat was being discarded/wasted and that the owner wanted to do something with it. He had the idea for 'canned luncheon meat' and the army picked it up and the rest is history.
Re:Pork vs. Ham (Score:5, Funny)
I suppose next you'll be telling me that pork is bacon too?
Re:Pork vs. Ham (Score:5, Informative)
All ham is pork (ignoring turkey "ham" for the moment, since that's just a chunk of turkey flavored like smoked/cured ham), but not all pork is ham. A ham is a hind leg of a pig (or is cut from it). It's usually cured and smoked, but fresh ham isn't. Other cuts have other names (ribs, bacon, etc.).
Re:Pork vs. Ham (Score:3, Interesting)
The hams are the thighs. And not only of pigs, though that's how it's commonly used these days. It's associated with the word "hamstrings".
Turkey ham, if those are indeed the thighs of the turkey, is a correct, but strange, usage. The flavoring of the turkey ham to mimic that of the pork ham is valuable for sales, but linguistically unnecessary.
OTOH, I've only heard the lower leg called the drumstick on chickens and turkeys. I think it's normally called the s
Re:but it's not (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, enough! SPAM is not just "meat like." It's meat! Not the best parts I'll admit, but calling it a non-meat is just wrong.
Ingredients of SPAM (from the SPAM FAQ):
seriously? (Score:4, Funny)
lets call it McRibs...
Re:seriously? (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, what's the Klingon word for spam??
Little suprise (Score:2, Interesting)
Not very good for their marketing dept. All that has changed is that now companies are using spam in their names as opposed to just it being a generic term.
Besides just getting the "dignity" of the name of spam back (what little there is) they also get some publicity, and maybe some cash.
RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
They aren't suing because they use the word "Spam" in their company name, it is the fact they are trying to get a trademark of their company name (Spam Arrest), which Hormel is trying to stop. The use of the word "spam" to refer to junk email has already been addressed by them [spam.com]. This time, it is in regards to somebody using their trademark in a manner they have not approved of.
Re:RTFA (Score:4, Funny)
Re:RTFA (Score:5, Interesting)
And there is no way Spam Arrest are the good guys here.
SpamArrest are spammers [samspade.org]
Generic? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hasn't the term "spam" been rendered generic by now? I don't think Hormel has done anything in the past to protect the trademark against this use. Besides, the last time I read their website it indicated that only the form "SPAM" was trademarked and copyrighted by them.
Hmmm....
Re:Generic? (Score:4, Informative)
Slashdot story on their statement:
http://slashdot.org/articles/01/05/29/0117200.sht
Actually they've gone to some lengths (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm
I think they might be objecting to combining Spam and Arrest. (Considering what their (Hormel's) product does to the cholestorally challenged they may have cause for complaint.
Trademark protection and dilution are certainly a strange area of the law to deal in.
Re:Generic? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Generic? (Score:3, Informative)
I actually remember seeing one of their album covers at a radio station prior to the name change... kind of interesting....
Hormel will probably lose. (Score:5, Insightful)
IANAL disclaimer - The judge will probably rule there is no confusion between the two. Spam has taken on an entirely different generic meaning w.r.t email, that is unlikely to be confused with the popular luncheon meat. Hormel should have enforced their trademark much earler to stop the alternative usage of the word "Spam". This is almost certainly too little, too late.
Hormel will totally frickin win. (Score:5, Informative)
Second, people are misunderstanding genericism. The key is whether the term at issue is generic for the goods or services for which the term is registered. Thus, you can't register PENCIL for pencils, but you sure can for vacuum cleaners. Whether the term is generic for other goods and services is not strictly relevant- one of the strongest trademarks in the world for beverages happens to be generic for the residue of coal left after destructive distillation. You all hear stories about THERMOS becoming generic for thermally-insulated bottles though failure to educate the public that THERMOS was a brand of thermally-insulated bottles, but now you're talking about the equivalent of astronomer's frequent references to exploding stars rendering a car brand generic- it just doesn't work that way.
Hormel should have enforced their trademark much earler to stop the alternative usage of the word
This line of thought is also way off for the same kind of reasons. When exactly did Hormel begin allowing use of the term SPAM by others to distinguish the source of goods or services? When did they begin ignore use of the term SPAM for *any item purchasable by a consumer*? They didn't.
So, nonetheless, I assume someone will persist in believing SPAM has somehow lost trademark significance through reference to unwanted email. Even if this were the case, it's yet another argument in favor of cancelling Spam Arrest's trademark registrations- Spam Arrest certainly use a generic term in their name if either of the parties do.
I can't believe Hormel will have any trouble convincing the TTAB that their mark is famous and entitled to a wide berth on the trademark register. Too well known, too well enforced, too long a period of time in use....
Protecting the good name of spam? (Score:2)
Sounds legit to me... (Score:4, Insightful)
Spam spam spam spam eggs and spam! (Score:2, Insightful)
Hormel (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to agree with them on this. Anything like a company named "Spam Arrest" or "Fuck Spam, Inc." or something like that could be considered slander. I mean, if you ignore the e-mail side of things, it sounds like a company set up to make money by telling people how bad Spam ham is.
Oh for pete's sake (Score:3, Insightful)
Now honestly, apart from college students (and most of them probably prefer Ramen noodles), who actually eats spam regularly? Don't they realize that people might hear the term, see their can on the grocery store shelf and think "oh, so that's what it was named for... wonder what it tastes like?"
You'd think they'd appreciate the free publicity.
Re:Oh for pete's sake (Score:5, Funny)
I think the last thing I want to do after receiving spam about a farm girl fucking a horse with a 31 inch cock is to go and eat an unknown meat product.
Is this a change in position? (Score:3, Informative)
"We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be used in all lower-case letters to distinguish it from our trademark SPAM, which should be used with all uppercase letters." [spam.com]
Re:Is this a change in position? (Score:3, Insightful)
Common Usage (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Common Usage (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, it has been added [reference.com]
ok, this is stupid (Score:2)
so many ways around it (Score:5, Funny)
Instead of "Spam Arrest" they could just change their names to "Fuck Shitters" or "Explosive Ass Mansion" (I am fully aware that the second example only had one swear in it, and two non-swear words - but I thought it sounded like a good company name - or a new ride at Disney).
Another option would be to just flail on the keyboard and then do a quick search to see if that is anywhere on the net - if not - bingo!
For instance, they could go with the name ";oasdguos " which might not be as easy to remember, but I think over time it could grow on you like a cancerous tumor (which could also be their new ad campaign).
If all else fails, we can just resort to all numbers.
Their new name, from this day forward would be "Comapny 16843329" - not to be confused with 16843328 or 16843330 which make coat hangers and tampons respectively.
I should probably not say anymore since as it is, I've said too much and feel that perhaps a consulting fee is in order.
They say this is OK on their website... (Score:2, Interesting)
From the site:
This seems like a break from that policy.
Using spam as slang (Score:5, Interesting)
>the word spam as a "slang term," as long as pictures of the product
>are not used with such references.
This is true. There used to be an entry in the FAQ on Hormel's website saying that they were cool with people using the term "spam" to refer to Unsolicted Commercial E-mail (UCE). They only asked that folks did not use "SPAM" in all uppercase.
From reading the article, I gather that Hormel is concerned that another commercial entity with the word "spam" in its trademark could cause confusion with the luncheon meat. (at least among computer-illiterate people)
Whether those concerns are enough to stop Spam Arrest from using the word 'spam' is something that will probably be determined after a legal battle.
They have a MUSEUM? (Score:3, Informative)
Oh my...
SPAM IS good... (Score:2)
Super
Premium
Anti
Meat
Re:SPAM IS good... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:SPAM IS good... (Score:4, Funny)
Some
Po'
Ass
Muthafucka'
About time (Score:2)
Not just junk email, but pretty much any sort of annoying repeatitive garbage. I've been IRC and people complain about "chat spam." The next big problem for cell phone users is SMS spam. The connotation is always negative. If I were Hormel, that would really piss me off.
HEADLINE WRONG - RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Hormel is opposing Spamarrest's attempt to TRADEMARK "Spamarrest".
It is clearly stated in the article. The
Hormel has been pretty damn cool about the whole "spam as email/SPAM as meat" thing - go look at their web page [spam.com] about it.
New name for spam: DLM (Score:2)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Spokesdemons for the Devil scoffed at the allegations, saying "Good luck finding an attorney who isn't already on the Dark Lord's retainer."
Commonly used term (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108hr2515.html
Will Hormel also sue the U.S. Congress?
While I'm all for companies defending their trademarks, I think Hormel has waited just a LITTLE bit too long on this one.
Etymology (Score:5, Informative)
1937: Hormel rolls out its first can of a luncheon meat it calls Spiced Ham. Kenneth Daigneau. An actor and friend of the Hormel family, wins $100 in a contest to name the pink product. The winner combined the "sp" with the "am" and got Spam.
NO NO, Not the Name (Score:3, Informative)
(This couresy of NRP this morning. The article seems a bit thin on the subject. YMMV)
Simple Solution (Score:5, Funny)
This isn't the first time. (Score:5, Interesting)
The film Muppet Treasure Island includes a character named "spaam" the leader of the Pig Pirates. Hormel got an injusnction against the use of their name but then lost it Ultimately the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the U.S. concluded:
See here [harvard.edu] here [geocities.com] and good o'l google [google.com] for more info.
Lest we forget Hormel does sell Spam brand Boxer Shorts [spamgift.com] in the Adult Apparel [spamgift.com] section of their spamgifts catologue.
Hormal not bad guys here (Score:3, Insightful)
Sagan (Score:5, Funny)
Butthead Astronomer (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe we could re-coin "spam" something like "litigious sh*tloaf".
A Once in A Lifetime Opportunity (Score:5, Funny)
Hormel tried this before with Henson... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hormel tried this before with Jim Henson productions. Can't quite remember which Muppet movie, but one of the characters' name was Spam and he was of course, a pig.
Hormel got all bent out of shape, took Henson to court alleging causes of action under both copyright and trademark law. Henson claimed "fair use" and won.
This is a little different in the sense that it is a straight trademark dilution claim. Now before everybody starts posting that "it's not confusing! One's computer spam and one's pork left-overs squished in a can", dilution is not about confusion... it is about loss of goodwill and damage to reputation as a cause of the defendant's use of the mark and it applies to "famous marks".
The interesting issue is that companies in the computer field who use "Spam" in the name are doing so because the public coined the term Spam to mean "junk mail". They didn't give it's negative connotation!
IMHO, Hormel should not be allowed to prohibit a company from using a generic term in its own industry especially when it is Hormel's responsibility to, from the outset, make it abundantly clear to the public that Spam should not be used to describe "junk mail". There failure to do so bars any recovery (AFAIC).
-AnthonyI can't help myself (Score:3, Funny)
I wish my meat had substantial goodwill and good reputation.
I'm sorry, but I simply could not resist. I will now stoically accept my modding down like a man.
You are mistaken.- (Score:3, Funny)
It's called 'Spa - Mar - Rest'. Cleans those nasty heelmarks off your Jacuzzi - like magic!
Re:Litigious society (Score:3, Informative)
Any company that holds a trademark *must* actively protect their mark from dilution through other commercial uses of their name or else they run the risk of losing their trademark. It's not necessarily that Hormel wants to do this but they may have to in order to secure the integrity of their product brand. I wonder why it t