On Saturday 21 April 2007 15:17, Adrienne wrote:
> --- Hal Vaughan <hal@...> wrote:
> > I think at one point escalator and aspirin were trademarks that
> > were
>
> overused and became generic. That's why Xerox fights to keep people
> from saying, "I'll xerox this."
>
>
> I used to subscribe to Writer's Digest too. I remember one ad: "You
> can't xerox a xerox on a Xerox". Kimberly-Clark also defends its
> Kleenex trademark. I've taught myself to say "photocopy", but still
> often say "I need a kleenex" when I'm reaching for one. Technically I
> should be saying "tissue", even though Kleenex brand is what I
> usually buy.
I'm lazy. I just say "copy," not "photocopy." On the other hand, I
personally don't care about Xerox and their trademark, but would make
the effort in my writing just to make sure there's no suit. I always
remember they don't need a valid reason to sue, just an excuse and it
can cost so much just to defend yourself you can go broke being right.
> Disney and Lucasfilms are two other companies that come to mind when
> I think of aggressive protection of copyrights and trademarks.
Yes. Disney is downright nasty about it. I read about a daycare center
that painted their walls with a lot of characters, including Mickey
Mouse and Disney sued them, claiming they were, in effect, making money
using Micky as part of their resources and what they offered. The
interesting thing is that there were changes to copyright law recently
and Disney was one of the advocates because it was coming close to time
when the copyright on Mickey should expire.
Hal
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