Companies get their panties in a bunch. We laugh at them. Film at 11.
It's actually an interesting insight into the bureaucratic mindset of the average idiot.
Pork Boss: Smith! Get over here now! There is some company using a slogan on some food that's really similar to ours! Smith: Uhhh, boss, I don't think that Unicorn meat really exis... Pork Boss: What? Smith! NOW! Get our lawyers on the horn! This can't go ahead! Smith: Uhhhh, right on it boss.
*ringing phone* Pork Lawyer: WHAT? Oh my, I will draft a letter IMMEDIATELY, this can't go on, who owns Unicorn Meat anyhow? Do they have a strong lobby group? Smith: Uhhhh, again, I don't think that it's really real, I mean it's unicorn mea... Pork Lawyer: Nonsense! This is outrageous. I will have them by the balls on this one. The letter will be out in the afternoon mail run! *click* Suzie, send a bill to the Pork Board for a cease and desist. Slap on a few extra hours work too will ya darling? Cheers!
All that can now be heard is the soft sad crying of Common Sense in the corner.
That sequence *is* actually common sense, but for everyone independently: the lawyer wants billable work, the manager wants to get ahead by impressing their higher-ups, and Smith isn't really getting paid enough to object strongly.
Extrapolate to millions of people and you get Corporate America.
That sequence *is* actually common sense, but for everyone independently: the lawyer wants billable work, the manager wants to get ahead by impressing their higher-ups, and Smith isn't really getting paid enough to object strongly.
Extrapolate to millions of people and you get Corporate America.
Or perhaps Mr. Smith is afraid he will stop getting paid for his job... But yeah, (very very) common sense for the win.
Uuum, you got that logic wrong: Smith isn’t really getting paid enough BECAUSE he does never object strongly. Also, if you want to go impress others, you’re not much of a leader, are you? Let alone secure in your sense of reality.
Smith isn't really getting paid enough to object strongly
It doesn't matter how much you pay an employee...if it's a public company or institution, the employee won't speak up. The only tangible benefit to speaking up is it saves the company legal fees. But those savings do not pass to the individual employee. What does pass to the individual employee who tries to avoid legal action (i.e. risk mitigation) is that if the risk comes to fruition, that person is humiliated for having decided to take the risk. So the employee has to weigh a potential benefit to the company against the risk of his own personal humiliation.
Unless he's an owner and the legal fees are coming out of his own pocket, he'll [almost always] avoid any possibility of personal humiliation, and instead, allow (or even favor) the company taking legal action, no matter how much he gets paid. (CEOs and other high-paid execs of public companies are often the worst offenders, being most concerned about their personal images.)
You just can't beat the economics of spending other people's money.
I agree that it is common sense, but not for the reasons you list. A trademark can be lost by insufficient policing of it. That's how Aspirin(TM), Escalator(TM), Thermos(TM), and Zipper(TM) all entered the public domain. Now, if the NPB should ever be accused of insufficient policing of the trademark, they can point to the cease-and-desist letter to show that they have been diligent, one might even say "extremely diligent," in policing it.
I think the plan is that if we get all 6 billion monkeys slapping their balls against a keyboard, hopefully we will get Shakespeare before we go extinct.
And Unicorn Meat is real! You just have to embark over a "good" forest or shrubland biome. http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/40d:Unicorn [magmawiki.com] - Look for serene, mirthful, or joyous wilds. You too can enjoy Unicorn Tallow Biscuits, Unicorn Meat Stew, Unicorn Chopped Liver Roast...
I understand organizations must protect their trademarks however there was not a violation here. The National Pork Board trademarked "The other white meat." They do not have a trademark on "The new white meat." If anything the National Pork Board should go after Thinkgeek for falsely representing their product. Any reasonable person knows that unicorn meat is not white but rather is the color of a beautiful spring rainbow. Free range unicorn meat sparkles in the early morning light. Sparkles are added
Why did this make the front page? (Score:-1, Offtopic)
Companies get their panties in a bunch. We laugh at them. Film at 11.
Re:Why did this make the front page? (Score:5, Insightful)
Companies get their panties in a bunch. We laugh at them. Film at 11.
It's actually an interesting insight into the bureaucratic mindset of the average idiot.
Pork Boss: Smith! Get over here now! There is some company using a slogan on some food that's really similar to ours!
Smith: Uhhh, boss, I don't think that Unicorn meat really exis...
Pork Boss: What? Smith! NOW! Get our lawyers on the horn! This can't go ahead!
Smith: Uhhhh, right on it boss.
*ringing phone*
Pork Lawyer: WHAT? Oh my, I will draft a letter IMMEDIATELY, this can't go on, who owns Unicorn Meat anyhow? Do they have a strong lobby group?
Smith: Uhhhh, again, I don't think that it's really real, I mean it's unicorn mea...
Pork Lawyer: Nonsense! This is outrageous. I will have them by the balls on this one. The letter will be out in the afternoon mail run! *click* Suzie, send a bill to the Pork Board for a cease and desist. Slap on a few extra hours work too will ya darling? Cheers!
All that can now be heard is the soft sad crying of Common Sense in the corner.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Why did this make the front page? (Score:5, Insightful)
That sequence *is* actually common sense, but for everyone independently: the lawyer wants billable work, the manager wants to get ahead by impressing their higher-ups, and Smith isn't really getting paid enough to object strongly.
Extrapolate to millions of people and you get Corporate America.
Re: (Score:2)
That sequence *is* actually common sense, but for everyone independently: the lawyer wants billable work, the manager wants to get ahead by impressing their higher-ups, and Smith isn't really getting paid enough to object strongly.
Extrapolate to millions of people and you get Corporate America.
Or perhaps Mr. Smith is afraid he will stop getting paid for his job... But yeah, (very very) common sense for the win.
Re: (Score:2)
Uuum, you got that logic wrong: Smith isn’t really getting paid enough BECAUSE he does never object strongly.
Also, if you want to go impress others, you’re not much of a leader, are you? Let alone secure in your sense of reality.
Re:Why did this make the front page? (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter how much you pay an employee...if it's a public company or institution, the employee won't speak up. The only tangible benefit to speaking up is it saves the company legal fees. But those savings do not pass to the individual employee. What does pass to the individual employee who tries to avoid legal action (i.e. risk mitigation) is that if the risk comes to fruition, that person is humiliated for having decided to take the risk. So the employee has to weigh a potential benefit to the company against the risk of his own personal humiliation.
Unless he's an owner and the legal fees are coming out of his own pocket, he'll [almost always] avoid any possibility of personal humiliation, and instead, allow (or even favor) the company taking legal action, no matter how much he gets paid. (CEOs and other high-paid execs of public companies are often the worst offenders, being most concerned about their personal images.)
You just can't beat the economics of spending other people's money.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree that it is common sense, but not for the reasons you list. A trademark can be lost by insufficient policing of it. That's how Aspirin(TM), Escalator(TM), Thermos(TM), and Zipper(TM) all entered the public domain. Now, if the NPB should ever be accused of insufficient policing of the trademark, they can point to the cease-and-desist letter to show that they have been diligent, one might even say "extremely diligent," in policing it.
~Loyal
Re: (Score:1)
I think the plan is that if we get all 6 billion monkeys slapping their balls against a keyboard, hopefully we will get Shakespeare before we go extinct.
And Unicorn Meat is real! You just have to embark over a "good" forest or shrubland biome. http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/40d:Unicorn [magmawiki.com] - Look for serene, mirthful, or joyous wilds. You too can enjoy Unicorn Tallow Biscuits, Unicorn Meat Stew, Unicorn Chopped Liver Roast...
Re: (Score:1)
This (conversation above) is EXACTLY the kind of crap that goes on EVERYDAY at just about EVERY company.
Sad... but true.
Re: (Score:1)
Standing Ovation! It highlights the contradiction that the industry are the real pigs, nicely! The acting is a bit weak, though.
CAPTCHA: NPB - The really real other white meat
Re: (Score:2)
I just invented a new saying:
“It always takes two, for bullshit to get trough.”
What is a crazy person, without the spineless cattle buying into it?
It’s just as much the fault of the second, as it is of the first.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Funniest part of this post: Get our lawyers on the horn!
Sorry heh, that's the time I lived in London coming out :)
Re: (Score:2)
Funniest part of this post: Get our lawyers on the horn!
So that wasn't an intentional unicorn reference?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
All that can now be heard is the soft sad crying of Common Sense in the corner.
How can that be possible, since Common Sense has been dead since last millenia?