"Spam has become ubiquitous throughout the world to describe unsolicited commercial email. No company can claim trademark rights on a generic term." - Seattle attorney Derek A Newman.
Hormel are the company behind Spam. But before you flame them into oblivion for being so, understand that this is not the kind of spam that promotes genital extension creams and get rich scams everyday from your inbox - this Spam is in fact the meat product. Naturally, the name was first applied to the product, not the annoying mail box messages. And now, Hormel wants the name back.
In an attempt to convince the general public that Spam is in fact a very nice kind of spiced ham, not annoying self-promoting e-mail messages about Viagra, Hormel will begin advertising on UK television screens next week with a campaign that cost £2m.
All I can say is "Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Spam spam spam spam!"