RE: OT - New member rejected

["Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx>]

> Excuse my ignorance but what is a spammer ????

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,44111,00.html

Attention everyone who uses the word "spam" to refer to an
unwanted influx of junk e-mail. 

Hormel Foods -- maker of the famed tinned lunchmeat of the same name -- is
no longer a force to be reckoned with. 

The Minnesota company, which took modest legal action a few years ago to
keep its brand name from being used as a synonym for unwanted e-mail, has
quietly abandoned its trademark protection campaign. 

In a policy statement on SPAM and the Internet posted on its website,
Hormel now says that it "does not object" to use of the slang
term "spam" to describe unsolicited commercial e-mail. 

Instead, the company asks only that people writing specifically about
square, canned pork follow a set of trademark guidelines. The suggestions,
posted on the site, appear simple enough: 

"Please Do: Always put the trademark SPAM in all capital letters.
Follow SPAM with "Luncheon Meat" or other descriptor. Remember, a
trademark is a formal adjective and as such, should always be followed by a
noun." 

The policy, which has been in place at Hormel for a little more than a
year, represents quite an about-face from just a few years ago. 

In 1997, the meat processing company got some attention when it sent a
letter to Sanford Wallace, a notorious e-mail spammer, objecting to his use
of the word "spam" and his registration of the website
"spamford.com". Wallace used his unique set of skills to make
sure the contents of the letter got passed around to plenty of people. 

Nowadays, Hormel makes it clear that while it doesn't mind use of the word
"spam" for junk e-mail, it still abhors and has never engaged in
the practice of spamming. That's probably a relevant point to make, since
Hormel's catalog of websites includes, among other things,
"spam.com." 

The canned-meat monolith also eschews all blame for the fact that its most
recognized product came to be associated with what is arguably the greatest
scourge of the information age. 

According to Hormel, culpability for the adoption of "spam" as a
synonym for junk e-mail rests squarely with British Comedy troupe Monty
Python. 

It all started with an old Monty Python skit in which a group of Vikings
sing a chorus of "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM..." at increasing volumes in
an attempt to drown out other conversation. The analogy to modern-day spam
applied, Hormel said, because unsolicited e-mail is seen as drowning out
normal discourse on the Internet. 

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary also used the Monty Python story to
explain the etymology of the word "spam," which it defines as
"unsolicited commercial e-mail sent to a large number of
addresses." The dictionary noted that the word is also a trademark for
a canned meat product. 

The bottom line from the linguists seems to be that whether it's clogging
your arteries or your inbox, spam (or SPAM) is a recognized element of
conversation in the modern age. And given the rapidity at which
"spam" has entered the general lexicon in English and several
other languages, trademark experts say Hormel would be foolish to fight the
trend. After all, the word has even inspired poets and would-be poets to
write endless haikus about this meaty slice of Americana. 

"It would be very difficult to get everyone in the world to call it
something different," said Jason Drangel, an intellectual property
attorney with Bazerman & Drangel. "They would have to come up with
something else to call it." 

That's not to say that an aggressive campaign against trademark
infringement never works. The company Rollerblade, for example, did a
pretty good job getting people to use the phrase "in-line
skating" instead of "rollerblading" to protect its brand
name. Xerox has also been vigilant in preventing publications from using
the word "xerox" as a generic synonym for photocopy. 

In Hormel's case, however, the pressure to protect its trademark is less
pronounced. The reason is that the thing its name is being used for --
unsolicited e-mail -- has nothing to do with pork. 

Drangel mused that the new use of the company's top brand might actually
benefit Hormel. The theory is that having more people talk and think about
spam will cause more people to buy and eat SPAM. 

After all, deleting e-mail all day builds up an appetite. And what better
way to fill that craving than with a protein-rich square of salty, pink
pork.

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