Actually, they aren't. Willys co-opted something that entered common usage during WW2 (note that the Willys Jeep wasn't the only Jeep of WW2, the term was also used for CVE escort aircraft carriers, which were called Jeep Carriers). Since they're using a generic term as a trademark, they'll forever be defending it, as the trademark should never have been granted.
-Adam David Savage wrote: > Chrysler are victims of their own marketing then. Jeep has now entered > the English language, they will forever be defending the trademark. > > It's the same problem that Apple is having with it's i-Pod trademark. > Look at the number of mp3 players that are now i-this or pod that. > > I remember reading a British photo magazine years ago (like how I > steered this back towards photography :-) The author referred to a > ball point pen as a biro in one of his articles and got a politely > worded letter from the Biro trademark owners lawyers, telling him to > stop that. He was simply unaware that it was a brand. > > I have no point, other than if an advertising campaign & the product > are successful, & it enters common language usage, the trademark > owners are going to be very busy. > > Dave > > On 11/25/06, Paul Stenquist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> But Jeep is a trademarked brand, and it's a valuable one. So if you >> own the trademark, you do your best to protect it. It's just good >> business. What should have been or could have been is irrelevant. >> Willys made it a brand. American Motors and, later, Chrysler invested >> in it and will of course want to protect it. >> Paul > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
