Adobe tells how you may use the term "Photoshop"

[Jonny Nexus]

INCORRECT: That image was photoshopped.
CORRECT: Dat pic was photoshoXXored, d00d!

Seriously, getting people on the Internet to use "enhanced by Adobe©®™ Photoshop©®™ Elements©®™ Software©®™" rather than "photoshopped" ? It's like asking a river to flow upward.

At best, they could ask people to say "modified with Photoshop" rather than "photoshopped", and even that would be a hard battle.

I don't think that they expect you to change. It's just that if they don't formally tell you not to do it, then they will be deemed to be saying that it's okay - and then they'll have their trademark taken away from them. i.e. They've got to go through the motions, as absurd as those motions might seem.

Although I agree with you in that I can't see why "modified with Photoshop" would be a problem, since by capitalising it and using it as a noun, you're saying that it's a proper noun (i.e. a name) so all you're doing then is referencing a trademark without formally acknowledging it - which I believe is okay.

i.e. It's okay for me to say I eat Hovis bread (and I don't have to state whose trademark it is). It would not be okay for me to make bread, call it Hovis, and sell it.

(Caution: I am not a lawyer).

 

[der_kluge]

FYI, I get all my acronyms from www.acronymfinder.com Great site.

And I would think that Adobe would be quite pleased at the word photoshop being a verb. Makes it well known, and easily recognizable. Not like anyone is going to try to market another product that uses the word photoshop in it. That seems a bit risky, regardless of how common the word becomes.

 

[AGGEMAM]

When I worked at XeroX they were immensely proud that their company name is in modern english synonimous with what their core product does, both used as a noun and a verb.

I find it amusing that Adobe would have anything against their most popular product name used as that.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I find it amusing that Adobe would have anything against their most popular product name used as that.

Oh trust me I'm sure they love it. This is just something they've came out and said for the legal reason of protecting their trademark.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

LEGO is another company that is very strict on the use of their name. The insist that all references made to their bricks as LEGO BRICKS, not LEGOs. They have a whole page on what you can and cannot do with the name LEGO. http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=fairplay
I understand their concern over a brand identity, but to me, I have a closet full of LEGOs, not a closet full of LEGO BRICK building sets.

 

[AGGEMAM]

Strangely here in their home country they are not (LEGO that is).

LEGO, btw, is an abbreviation of LEG GODT which means literally Play Well in english.

 

[Jonny Nexus]

FYI, I get all my acronyms from www.acronymfinder.com Great site.

And I would think that Adobe would be quite pleased at the word photoshop being a verb. Makes it well known, and easily recognizable. Not like anyone is going to try to market another product that uses the word photoshop in it. That seems a bit risky, regardless of how common the word becomes.

Well if Adobe lost the trademark then there would be no risk whatsoever in anyone producting a photoshop package, just as there is no risk in anyone producing a spreadsheet package. So you might have say Adobe Photoshop, Borland Photoshop and Microsoft Photoshop.

And who's to say that Microsoft couldn't leverage their monopoly position to make sure that their photoshop obliterated the Adobe one?

The (perhaps slightly twisted) logic of the trademark authorities is this:

You can't trademark a word. You can only trademark a name. A name can be an abstract sound, or something that is a word but is being used in a completely abstract concept.

So:

"Blabbagey" as a trademark for a brand of radio would be okay.

"Pencil" as a trademark for a brand of radio would be okay.

"Pencil" as a trademark for a wooden writing stick with a graphite core WOULD NOT BE OKAY.

So, if Photoshop is just an abstract name that Adobe call their paint package then it's okay. *But* if photoshop is (or becomes) the word used to describe a type of software (like spreadsheet, database, word processor etc) then Adobe have no right to trademark it and say that only they can make a "photoshop".

It would be like Microsoft trademarking the word "spreadsheet" (to describe a spreadsheet - if they wanted to trademark it as a brand of sportswear that would be fine) and then saying that no-one else could sell a spreadsheet package (or they could, but they couldn't describe it as a spreadsheet).

 

[d20Dwarf]

Short story time!

Inspired by this thread, imagined at B&N today while percolating the tax book and waiting for Bree. Enjoy!

************
"Hey Frank, how’s it going?"

"Thirteen."

"Huh?"

"Floor thirteen."

"There is no thirteenth floor. Dude, stop smiling, you use that joke every time you get into the elevator."

"I stick with what works."

"Whatever. Hey, I have a question about the email you sent earlier, talking about the new logos."

"What about it?"

"Why did you put ‘TM’ everytime you typed ‘Photoshop’?"

"They said to."

"Who?"

"Adobe. They said that Photoshop is a trademark, and that it can’t be used as a noun or verb except in reference to the program. So I trademark it just to be safe."

"Good, ‘cause I forwarded them the last email you sent without the trademark."

"…"

"Just kidding, man! It’s not like they’re going to come after you."

"Think not? First time a lawyer gets bored he’s going to Google it and nail the first person he comes across…that won’t be me."

"Is that trademarked?"

"What?"

"Google."

"Very funny. But now that you mention it, I bet it will be after their IPO. ing corps. Anyway, you remember what they did to my friend Jimbo, right?"

"Man, he shot a customer’s testicles off! He robbed the family jewels! The rancheros lost their juevos!"

"Self-defense used to be a valid defense in this country. After that, I’m not taking anything for granted."

"…"

"…"

"You ever gotten a ticket?"

"No."

"Speeding?"

"Umm, no."

"Never had an insurance lapse?"

"Yeah, I did once. Didn’t drive my car for 2 months."

"What!? How’d you get to work?"

"Bus."

"Dude, the bus doesn’t come anywhere near here."

"Bus and rickshaw."

"…"

"What? You don’t remember the rickshaw service? Started during the tech boom, I think Chinatown got richer off the bubble than the Emerald Towers did."

"You’re so full of it, dude."

"Ask anyone!"

"…"

"…"

"How’d you get the TM to superscript in the email?"

"Not that again!"

"What!? I didn’t know you could format that way!"

"This is the longest go*d*** elevator ride I’ve ever been on."

"Shoulda got off at thirteen."

 

[Knightfall]

IYKWIMAITYD: If You Know What I Mean And I Think You Do

I confess - I googled it. But that is my theory to life - "When in doubt - Google". Speaking of which, google has entered the american lexicon as a means or type of search.

I don't google, I metacrawl...

 

[Silver Moon]

You can't trademark a word. You can only trademark a name. A name can be an abstract sound, or something that is a word but is being used in a completely abstract concept....

"Pencil" as a trademark for a brand of radio would be okay.

"Pencil" as a trademark for a wooden writing stick with a graphite core WOULD NOT BE OKAY.

The most absurd case these days involves Ralph Lauren. He company has copywrited his successful Polo brand of shirts, with the logo of the polo player. The current case has the company attempting to stop polo groups, that is people with horses who actually play the game, from producing any club shirts with either the word Polo or a picture of a man on a horse playing polo on them! Seems to me he copied their game and not the other way around.