FYI - Term Usage

[Kitsune]

Adobe has finally corrected us all. Shame on us!

Photoshop Term Usage

[Elspode]

That's too much trouble. I'm just going to photoshop out the examples I don't like.

[FileNotFound]

Seems kinda stupid to me. If I was Adobe I'd be amazingly happy that my product has become the "standard" behind immiging.

It's like "band aid". It's a brand name, but at the same time it's refered to as a product. I have bought plenty of 'band aid' band aids just because..hell it's band aid..can't go wrong.

Same logic should apply to Adobe (RIP OFF) Photoshop (R) (C) (TM) (BS) (WTF) which is now seen as the central piece of any graphic designer software collection.


What I'm trying to say is this :

Adobe should be damn happy people say "photoshopped" instead of "paintshopproed" or "coreldrawed".

[SteveDallas]

aaah, some staff lawyer got paid to write it up because another staff lawyer said they have to cover their asses.

[Pie]

Originally posted by SteveDallas
aaah, some staff lawyer got paid to write it up because another staff lawyer said they have to cover their asses.

This is true... Adobe runs the risk of losing their trademark if they don't protect their right to it.

They probably love the exposure, but hate the consequences...

- Pie

[russotto]

MTR's <B>Photoshop</B> Acrobatics Corporation would like to make the following announcement: Our new product, a P'shop add-on called Naked Photoshot, is a fantastic new add-on program for photoshopping naked pictures of 6 year olds, just like Michael Jackson and most Adobe executives. Adobe even uses a pre-release version internally.

(Does that break them all)

I love the way companies post policies like this and think that people are actually bound to follow them. Fact is, trademark protection is a limited thing, and they simply can't forbid (e.g.) the use of a trademark as a slang term.

[Pie]

Originally posted by russotto
They simply can't forbid (e.g.) the use of a trademark as a slang term.

Correct. They can't stop it. But the have to be able to show a judge that they *tried* to stop it.

As stated on this site:

"Aspirin," "thermos," "cellophane," "shredded wheat," "nylon," and "zipper" are examples of the greatest danger facing a trademark holder. Each was once a registered but, unfortunately, poorly protected trademark. Public misuse caused the trademark name to degenerate to a generic term describing the class or nature of an article. Subsequently, the holder was denied the renewal of trademark rights, and the product name became simply a generic term for competitors' products.
[...]
The burden of responsibility for appropriate trademark use falls on the owner who must vigilantly ensure that the trademark is being utilized to distinguish a product from its competitors rather than merely identifying a type of product or service.

- Pie

[Beletseri]

Yep, they are in a world of hurt once photoshopped gets included in the dictionary. I'm sure they would fight tooth and nail to keep it out.

[Uryoces]

I'm using Gimp (badly), so I "Gimp things up", I "Gimped it", etc.

[And]

I dunno... legally it's sound, but it may not always be so bad.

When I say, "Google for this" I don't mean websearch for it, I mean get on www.google.com and find it. No Hotbot, no Webcrawler, no Alta Vista, etc. Similarly, when I say "photoshopped" I mean "edited with Adobe® Photoshop® Computer Software Product®®®™" and not Gimp or PaintShop Pro or MS-Paint.

I would think, were I a marketer, this would be a goldmine of recognition opportunity.

Lawyers can be doofuses (doofi?) sometimes.

[Slartibartfast]

from the Adobe® Photoshop® web site:

CORRECT: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.

INCORRECT: Photoshop's features are impressive.



And how exactly does one pronounce '®'?

I'm going to pronounce it "duh"- with the vowel sound held for five seconds.

[russotto]

The aspirin trademark was taken away as a punitive measure during or immediately after WWII. Lots of sites, including those written by people who should know better, get this wrong.

Nylon, so far as I can tell, never was a trademark.

"Shredded wheat" was ruled too generic to be trademarked.

"Zipper" was lost that way, though, as were "cellophane" and "thermos".

[Kitsune]

Originally posted by russotto
"Zipper" was lost that way, though, as were "cellophane" and "thermos".

"Weedeater" was a term I always used for something that uses a cord on a rotor to trim grass. I was lost when I heard someone use a term not specific to the brand name.

"A what?"
"You know, the string trimmer. Its in the garage."
"String trimmer? Um, something you use to trim strings?"
"No, the-- THIS thing, right here."
"Oh, a 'weedeater'."
"This isn't a Weedeater (tm), its a string trimmer made by Black and Decker (tm)."

I guess its all in what you grew up with.

So what do you call a "Thermos (tm)"? A "vacuum insulated bottle"?

[dar512]

Originally posted by Kitsune

So what do you call a "Thermos (tm)"? A "vacuum insulated bottle"?

You can call it a thermos. They lost the (tm).

But don't call a generic tissue a Kleenex. They fought and won this battle a long time ago (~1960?).

[glatt]

When I was a kid, we would xerox things to copy them. Now I photocopy them. I'm not sure when or how I got brainwashed into saying photocopy, but it must have been Xerox's fault.

Ever notice that Jello always refers to their product as "Jello brand gelatin." When I was a kid, I called it jello, even if it was made by Knox. I still do.