RE: verb forms related to Twitter ?

Subject: RE: verb forms related to Twitter ?
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>, Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:40:56 -0400



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Chung
>
> On 2011-09-14, at 6:56 AM, "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
> wrote:
>
> > One of the difficulties [is] the item's current uniqueness. There is
> no obvious generic term. (Perhaps that's merely a confession that I
> cannot think of one.)
> >
>
> The generic category that covers tweets and status updates is usually
> called "microblogging". The action is "post". While Twitter would have
> you "tweet", the generic world "posts" to the Twitter service.
>
> This flies in the face against marketing practice, which has the ideal
> goal of turning your company name into a verb.
>
> Marketing and TechCom: wither the twain shall meet? (or stop the twain
> -- I wanna get off!)

But the reason that our legal departments have always given for
techwriters (and others) to use generic terms and to always respect
trademarks (own and others) by using forms like "switch on the BIGNAME
device" rather than simply "switch on the BIGNAME", is that the loose
practice results in erosion of the brand. If the trademark owner
does not contest improper uses of the mark, that is taken by courts
as an unwillingness to protect one's own brand.

I'm trying to think of reasons why that would be bad, and the only
one I can come up with is:

When your brand becomes the defacto generic name, and somebody
refers to (say) the crappy Jello they got from the cafeteria -
as opposed to the crappy gelatin dessert - then the brand
owners no longer have recourse against people who publish
that sort of disparaging remark that unfairly besmirches
the product.

Not sure how that balances against the perceived market
domination if your product's name becomes synonymous
with all instances of that substance or device, regardless
of who actually made it.

- kevin
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References:
verb forms related to Twitter ?: From: Monique Semp
Re: verb forms related to Twitter ?: From: Donna McManus
Re: verb forms related to Twitter ?: From: Peter Neilson
Re: verb forms related to Twitter ?: From: Tony Chung

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