Absurd Trademark Law Case of the Day
Via BNA’s Internet Law News, from the “does this argument pass the straight face test?” department:
SPAM MAKER SEES TRADEMARK BID CANNED
Hormel Foods, which owns the trademark for the spiced-ham food product Spam, has failed in its attempt to register “spam” as a European Union-wide trademark when used to designate unsolicited e-mails. Hormel argued in an appeal to the Office of Harmonisation for the Internal Market, the EU trademark body, that the general public would not immediately recognize the use of the word spam as pertaining to junk e-mail but would instead associate it with “a kind of spicy ham” food product.
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6123095.html