Spam is Food As Well
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Spam, the ubiquitous food of fun is the centrepiece of a trademark dispute. The (in my humble reviewers opinion) disgustlingly awful, luncheon meat food was the source of a trademark dispute by its maker, Hormel. The UK High Court had been asked to adjudicate about the Spambuster produced by Antilles Landscapes Investments. Deputy Judge Richard Arnold QC declined. Essentially, the case by Hormel had been lost years ago. Their own actions had indeed hindered the case. In February 2002, a registrar at the UK Patent Office said "The proposition that someone who encounters computer programming services under the mark Spambuster would think any less of the applicants' luncheon meat product or be discouraged from purchasing that product is more than a little fanciful." The Hormel website, did no favours, either. In particular it drew attention to a legendary Monty Python sketch involving Vikings extolling the virtues of the highly processed meat product. Recognising that Spam had become a de-facto term for "Unsolicited commercial email" or UCE, it went on to say that it did not mind the UCE/Spam connection. However it did object to the use of any images. Antilles Landscapes, took them at their word. Of course they did not use any images of Spam. Unsurprisingly the Court threw out Hormel's case. The legal reasoning was a decision from 1843.
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