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Do AMD, Intel, Nvidia, HP, Lenovo, Ford, Honda, and so on send a cease and desist letter to every publication that mentions them in passing during a review of a

Do AMD, Intel, Nvidia, HP, Lenovo, Ford, Honda, and so on send a cease and desist letter to every publication that mentions them in passing during a review of a similar product? Product comparisons are inevitable. If I review, say, a Sony Smartwatch, you bet your ass I'm going to compare it to a Pebble and an Apple Watch, otherwise there's no real frame of reference. IMAX's lawyers are clearly overreaching here.

jasode 11y ago
Do AMD, Intel, Nvidia, HP, Lenovo, Ford, Honda, and so on send a cease and desist letter to every publication ... I suppose they don't and I'm not disagreeing with you on that. The IMAX situation may be different in that their trademark is very catchy sounding (2 syllables "eye"-"macks") and is getting pulled (by innocent human tendencies) into a lot of conversations unrelated to IMAX(tm) theaters. When people use words like "AMD" and "Honda", it doesn't seem to erode their trademark. But for some reason with "IMAX", and "google", and "kleenex", it does. In other words, most people haven't genericized "Honda" to the point of saying "I'm going to Honda my but to the grocery store." Are the cultural references to "IMAX" trending towards trademark desctruction such as "kleenex" and "escalator"[1] or are the usages actually trademark preserving such as "AMD" and "Honda"? [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Loss_of_trademark_rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Loss_of_trademark_ri...
- morganvachon 11y ago
  I think that's a bit of a stretch. When I hear "Honda", I think of cars. When I hear "Ford", I also think of cars. When I hear "IMAX", I think of theaters. When I hear "SteamVR", I think of computer games and virtual reality. If anything, IMAX has even less footing than the other companies I mentioned. Now, that's just me, but I can imagine it being similar for most people.
  - moey 11y ago
    I think you're missing the point. When most people think of fascial tissue, they think of Kleenex. They call any brand of fascial tissue Kleenex. IMAX doesn't want people calling any large format theater IMAX. So they over-reach anytime someone mentions the word I assume. Not justifying the actions, just trying to clear things up. Personally, I think it's ridiculous.
    - morganvachon 11y ago
      But who is calling just any theater "IMAX"? If I say to my wife, "hey let's go to the IMAX", she's going to ask me why we would pay that much when we can just go to the theater instead. If there's any dilution of the IMAX brand going on, it's by IMAX themselves by constantly lowering their standards. Something else you have to consider is intent. It doesn't seem that Ars intended to dilute IMAX's brand by publishing a quote, and it doesn't seem to be the intent of the person quoted either. It was simply a frame of reference. > IMAX doesn't want people calling any large format theater IMAX Here's the thing: Nobody did that in the Ars article. A piece of VR tech was casually compared to the IMAX experience by someone being interviewed by Ars.
      - jasode 11y ago
        >But who is calling just any theater "IMAX"? I'm not saying any theater but I have noticed that some visitors to Epcot refer to the Canada and China 360-degree movies as "IMAX". The actual designation is "CircleVision 360". But people don't remember that 7-syllable trademark. The first word that comes to the tip of their tongue is "IMAX" because that word has become a placeholder for "any immersive large screen experience". >Something else you have to consider is intent. Yes, but society's casual use of "Escalator" to "escalator" and "Kleenex" to "kleenex" didn't have any kind of mastermind conspiracy to dilute the trademark. It just happened. I'm guessing most trademarks erode without malicious intent. Could Otis Escalator and Kleenex lawyers have done anything to stop the trademark erosion?
        morganvachon 11y ago
        I still think IMAX is barking up the wrong tree. If anything they should have sent the letter to the person who made the comparison, not Ars who simply quoted the person. Though that would be wrong as well, it would be slightly less wrong than attacking a news site for reporting the news.
- ensignavenger 11y ago
  According to that wikipedia article, Otis lost the 'escalator' trademark because of the way they themselves had generically used the term, not just because of the way others used it. Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark#Avoiding_genericization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark#Avoiding_gen... gives several suggestions on avoiding genercization that don't involve legal threats.

jasode 11y ago

Do AMD, Intel, Nvidia, HP, Lenovo, Ford, Honda, and so on send a cease and desist letter to every publication ... I suppose they don't and I'm not disagreeing with you on that. The IMAX situation may be different in that their trademark is very catchy sounding (2 syllables "eye"-"macks") and is getting pulled (by innocent human tendencies) into a lot of conversations unrelated to IMAX(tm) theaters. When people use words like "AMD" and "Honda", it doesn't seem to erode their trademark. But for some reason with "IMAX", and "google", and "kleenex", it does. In other words, most people haven't genericized "Honda" to the point of saying "I'm going to Honda my but to the grocery store." Are the cultural references to "IMAX" trending towards trademark desctruction such as "kleenex" and "escalator"[1] or are the usages actually trademark preserving such as "AMD" and "Honda"? [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Loss_of_trademark_rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Loss_of_trademark_ri...

morganvachon 11y ago
I think that's a bit of a stretch. When I hear "Honda", I think of cars. When I hear "Ford", I also think of cars. When I hear "IMAX", I think of theaters. When I hear "SteamVR", I think of computer games and virtual reality. If anything, IMAX has even less footing than the other companies I mentioned. Now, that's just me, but I can imagine it being similar for most people.
- moey 11y ago
  I think you're missing the point. When most people think of fascial tissue, they think of Kleenex. They call any brand of fascial tissue Kleenex. IMAX doesn't want people calling any large format theater IMAX. So they over-reach anytime someone mentions the word I assume. Not justifying the actions, just trying to clear things up. Personally, I think it's ridiculous.
  - morganvachon 11y ago
    But who is calling just any theater "IMAX"? If I say to my wife, "hey let's go to the IMAX", she's going to ask me why we would pay that much when we can just go to the theater instead. If there's any dilution of the IMAX brand going on, it's by IMAX themselves by constantly lowering their standards. Something else you have to consider is intent. It doesn't seem that Ars intended to dilute IMAX's brand by publishing a quote, and it doesn't seem to be the intent of the person quoted either. It was simply a frame of reference. > IMAX doesn't want people calling any large format theater IMAX Here's the thing: Nobody did that in the Ars article. A piece of VR tech was casually compared to the IMAX experience by someone being interviewed by Ars.
    - jasode 11y ago
      >But who is calling just any theater "IMAX"? I'm not saying any theater but I have noticed that some visitors to Epcot refer to the Canada and China 360-degree movies as "IMAX". The actual designation is "CircleVision 360". But people don't remember that 7-syllable trademark. The first word that comes to the tip of their tongue is "IMAX" because that word has become a placeholder for "any immersive large screen experience". >Something else you have to consider is intent. Yes, but society's casual use of "Escalator" to "escalator" and "Kleenex" to "kleenex" didn't have any kind of mastermind conspiracy to dilute the trademark. It just happened. I'm guessing most trademarks erode without malicious intent. Could Otis Escalator and Kleenex lawyers have done anything to stop the trademark erosion?
      - morganvachon 11y ago
        I still think IMAX is barking up the wrong tree. If anything they should have sent the letter to the person who made the comparison, not Ars who simply quoted the person. Though that would be wrong as well, it would be slightly less wrong than attacking a news site for reporting the news.
ensignavenger 11y ago
According to that wikipedia article, Otis lost the 'escalator' trademark because of the way they themselves had generically used the term, not just because of the way others used it. Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark#Avoiding_genericization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark#Avoiding_gen... gives several suggestions on avoiding genercization that don't involve legal threats.