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Subject:Capitalizing the 2nd letter of a word? From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 16 Feb 2005 14:41:56 -0500
John Wilcox wondered: <<I sent this letter to Adobe, and I encourage
others to join the protest.>>
I assume you'll be following up with strongly worded letters to Apple's
iBook, iPod, and iTunes divisions too? <g>
<<Adobe's use of eSeminar, eBook, ePublishing, and other words in which
the 2nd letter is capitalized when the word begins with an e, is not
appreciated by a large contingent of your customers.>>
You're missing a large part of the point here: It's generally not
possible to trademark a common word, but as soon as you change the
spelling in some clear and distinctive way, the word is now eligible to
become a trademark. In the case of e-mail, the word has long since
entered widespread use, so it's too late to trademark it.
I certainly agree with you that this practice is annoying, but there's
not a lot any of us can do about it. The powers that control the
universe (aka "Marketing") don't pay any attention to us, and only the
minority of the world who have taken up the profession of words will
either notice or care enough to complain.
--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
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