After five years of legal wrangling, the U.S. Patent Office's Trademark Board has dismissed a complaint by Austin-based Hormel Foods against Seattle email services firm SpamArrest for using the name of its famed spiced-meat product. The 63-page ruling, dated Nov. 21, found that Hormel failed to show how SPAM's "fame has carried over to computer software designed to eliminate unsolicited commercial electronic mail, or that consumers would associate such software with the source of petitioner's Spam and Spam-derivative products and services."
SpamArrest, reports the Rochester Post-Bulletin, is the only non-Hormel company that can now legally use the name, but the decision may affect "dozens of similar cases" the Board is scheduled to consider, including brands like Spam Eye, Spam Fighter, Spjam, Spamoxie, Spamtrap, SpaMiles, Spamhippo and SpaMitzvah.
Hormel is considering an appeal.
I have been a loyal "paying" member of Spamarrest for a while and the last few months their service has gone down in reliability. They have lost emails and the service has gone down.
ReplyDeleteToday I canceled my recently renewed account with them and asked for a refund of the unused portion of my service. Here is their reply!
"Hi David,
Thanks once again.
David, I am very sorry to tell you that we are not able to offer you a refund for your account. You may continue to use your Spam Arrest account till 2008-10-01 by reactivating the account.
I truly apologize for your inconvenience, David. Please do let me know if you need anything else.
Best Regards,
Peter
Technical Support Specialist
Spam Arrest"