The maker of canned meat product Spam has lost a European trademark case that
would have given it rights over the word spam when it relates to email-related
products.
Hormel Foods owns the trademark for
'SPAM' (spiced ham). However it recently attempted to register Spam as a
trademark to prevent other companies using the word in their anti-spam product
names.
However, the European
Office
for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) rejected the application
because Hormel Foods is not connected to the email business. It added that "for
the consumers the meaning of spam will certainly be unsolicited, usually
commercial email, rather than a designation for canned spicy ham", the
Associated Press reports.
Hormel
Foods thinks it is acceptable to refer to unsolicited commercial email as
spam, as long as the first letter remains lower-case.
The company
says
it does not object to this usage of the word, but "it is only when someone
attempts to trademark the word 'spam' that we object to such use". Hormel has
previously taken action against anti-spam companies that use the word in its
name.
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