1:02 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

(Trade)Marked for Life?

The Aveda Corp., which I usually view as an upstanding member of the corporate community, has seemingly trademarked the word "indigenous" for their purifying collection.

In a message to the Nettime mailing list, Felix Stalder expresses concern about the trademark, inquiring whether such a filing is legal.

Personally, I'm not sure. The trademark might just mean that the term can't be used to label a product line produced by a competitor. I'm not sure whether the Maori need to be concerned -- or that Fast Company's trademarks indicate that a popular athlete's foot remedy needs to start billing itself as "quickly actin'."