Spam maker loses spam trademark

The maker of canned meat product Spam has lost a European trademark case that would have given it rights over the word spam when it relates to email-related products.

Hormel Foods owns the trademark for 'SPAM' (spiced ham). However it recently attempted to register Spam as a trademark to prevent other companies using the word in their anti-spam product names.

However, the European Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) rejected the application because Hormel Foods is not connected to the email business. It added that "for the consumers the meaning of spam will certainly be unsolicited, usually commercial email, rather than a designation for canned spicy ham", the Associated Press reports.

Hormel Foods thinks it is acceptable to refer to unsolicited commercial email as spam, as long as the first letter remains lower-case.

The company says it does not object to this usage of the word, but "it is only when someone attempts to trademark the word 'spam' that we object to such use". Hormel has previously taken action against anti-spam companies that use the word in its name.