Tradesnark™: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3
m (cleanup categories) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3) |
||
| (44 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope|wppage=Trademark}}
{{quote|''"Paging through the movie's press kit, I came across this quote attributed to Amy Jo Johnson, who plays Kimberly, the Pink Power Ranger: "'Mighty Morphin [[Power Rangers]]™: [[The Movie]]' is [[X Meets Y|a mix between]] '[[Star Wars]]' and '[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'." I wonder if Amy Jo actually said "TM" when she was delivering that wonderfully fresh and spontaneous quote, which is so much more involved than anything she says in the movie."''
|'''[[Roger Ebert]]'s''' [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID{{=}}/19950630/REVIEWS/506300304/1023 review] of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (film)|Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie]]''}}
A humorous way to make Things®© stand out is to add Random Trademark Symbols®© everywhere. May be used as a Social Commentary®© on our increasingly homogenised, commercialised World®©, but more often than not, done just because of the [[Rule of Funny]]™. They can also be used in [[Sarcasm Mode]] (perhaps in conjunction with [[Scare Quotes|Scare Quotes<sup>®</sup>]]) to passive-aggressively imply something exists only as a concept™; for example, some people refer to "Global Warming™".
For added Spice™, try adding Registered [[Trademark]]® and [[Copyright]]© Symbols®©™. ([[Did Not Do the Research|This is not actually how copyright works™.]])
Compare [[Stuck on Band-Aid Brand]] for a similarly awkward attempt to acknowledge ownership of a brand, minus the [[Lampshade Hanging]]. This is done in an attempt to prevent common words (like "kleenex" or "aspirin") losing their registered trademark status because [[Brand Name Takeover|they've become the generic term]] in their respective fields due to widespread overuse.
{{examples
== [[Advertising]] ==
Line 20 ⟶ 21:
* The BEYOND Corporation© from ''[[Nextwave]]''.
* [[Deadpool]]™ had a ''field day'' with this.
{{quote|
It started with these [[New Warriors]]® dweebs screwing up and making a bad guy named Nitro™ blow up and take a school in Stanford with him. }}
* Occasionally played straight in [[Comic Books]] when someone will say the name of a character and the name appears as their logo in the [[Speech Bubble]].
{{quote|
* More than one wag has pointed out that, for half a century, Robin® the Boy Wonder™ wore something that looked uncannily like a Registered Trademark symbol ''on his chest''.
* The shortlived, humorous [[Marvel]] comic ''What The?'' used this gag more than once.
Line 30 ⟶ 31:
* One issue of ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'' involves Johnny meeting God™.
* One character - mentioned but not seen - in [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''Doom Force'' was named TM™.
* Howard Chaykin's ''American Flagg!'' did this a '''lot'''.
== [[
* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' fanfic ''[[Those Lacking Spines]]'' has [[Purple Prose|Overly Detailed Purple Description Mode]]
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5377900/3/Vindication_of_an_Evil_Angel This] ''[[Code Geass]]'' [[Fanfic]] has Suzaku using the GRIN™ on Lelouch.
* ''[[Part Right, Half Wrong, a Third Crazy]]'' brings us "Epic, life-altering journey®".
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1803569/1/This_Army_Life This Army Life]'' has Sephiroth's Evil Smile™
== [[Film]] ==
Line 46 ⟶ 48:
* Will Ferguson's ''Happiness™'' is about a self-help book that actually works, turning people into happy zombies and making the publishing company so much money that they trademark the word "happiness".
* The novel ''[[Feed]]'' has Clouds™ and School™.
* One page at the end of the ''[[Principia Discordia]]'' uses a circled K (similar to that used to mark Kosher products, but in this case standing for 'Kallisti') followed by the phrase "All Rites Reversed", to indicate that it was being released into public domain.
** Which was (alongside the ''[[Illuminatus]]'' trilogy, itself inspired by the ''Principia Discordia'') part of the inspiration for acidhouse band The KLF (aka Kopyright Liberation Front, aka K Foundation, aka The JAMS) and some of their more controversial work.
* ''"The words ScreeWee (tm), Empire (tm) and Mankind (tm) are registered trademarks of Gobi Software, Tibet."'' -- [[Terry Pratchett]], ''[[Only You Can Save Mankind]]''
Line 63 ⟶ 65:
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* The WWF ([[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]) No Mercy manual (and probably others) had a TM symbol for every <s>wrestler</s> superstar mentioned in the opening blurb. As in: "Matt Hardy™ went on to fight Christian™..."
** "All World Wrestling Entertainment programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131103041523/http://www.wwe.com/help/generalfaq/copyright exclusive property] of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries."
** According to a minor wrestler just starting, the entire reason that [[Big Bad|Vince McMahon]] has them take face names: so he can own the name and persona.
** Of course, the memorable backfire is of Gangrel™, a trademark of [[White Wolf]].
Line 70 ⟶ 72:
** It appears often in other materials; the [[Tabletop Game]] 'Know Your Role' also has scattered trademark symbols on various wrestlers. It's not omnipresent, but it's likely to show up when a group are listed.
** Hilariously, the wrestler Steve Borden actually owns the trademark for his ring name [[Sting (wrestling)|Sting]]. The musician of the same name has to pay Steve whenever he performs in the U.S. However, Sting the wrestler is very reasonable about it and the fee is extremely low (about $1, the last I heard).
* In any case, trademark™ is no laughing matter in [[World Wrestling Entertainment]]® land - the league used to be named the "World Wrestling Federation" and was coerced into a rename after legal bullying by, of all people, the World Wildlife Fund®.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The old gamer legend that back in the day of their apparently short-lived ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' role-playing game, TSR (then-owners of [[Dungeons
* Also used in ''[[Paranoia]]'', with one secret society using "The Force is with us, Tee-Em" as part of its recognition symbol. And then there's the Semantics Control firms, which actively try to inflict this upon everyone in Alpha Complex (leading to much hilarity and no small number of weapons discharges).
** Is there anything in ''[[Paranoia]]'' that '''doesn't''' lead to weapons discharges?
Line 81 ⟶ 84:
* ''[[I'm OK|I'm O.K - A Murder Simulator]]'' had the final boss {{spoiler|a giant ([[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]])}} with a trademark symbol hanging in mid air next to him at all times.
* The ''[[Monkey Island]]'' games have them in the dialog text, but not the voice acting in the later games. Some characters seem to notice their presence even so; in ''Escape from Monkey Island'', a lawyer complements Guybrush on "Nice use of the ™" in Melee Island™. Even Guybrush says the word "™" {{spoiler|while he summons his wife Elaine to the Flotsam Island Courthouse}} in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]''.
* [[
** Not just patches. Planetary interaction, atmospheric flight, walking in stations, and numerous other promised features have been coming Soon™ for years. Even admittedly unfinished COSMOS sites have agents handing you missions with the helpful and in-depth description of "Soon™".
*** Actually, the symbol for one of the factions - [http://eve.wikia.com/wiki/Caldari_State Caldari State] - is a giant ©-Symbol
*** Soon™ shows up in other MMOs as well. Typical response to somebody asking when the next patch will come in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' forums is "Soon™", followed by another post explaining the terms of use of the "Soon" trademark.
*** It shows up on ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' forums, as well. One of the bluenames made a [http://my.lotro.com/user-34/2010/09/13/a-brief-history-of-time-according-to-sapience/ list]{{Dead link}} over all the various trademarks used, which details the difference between a patch arriving Soon™, "Soon", Soon, soon, and other similar trademars. Most of which, off course, [[Mathematician's Answer|doesn't give you any clue whatsoever to how long you'll have to wait for the patch.]]
* From a [[Have a Nice Death]] sequence in the VGA remake of ''[[Space Quest]] I'':
{{quote|
** Speaking of which, I dare you to find a single [[Sierra]] Golden-Age [[Adventure Game]] that DIDN'T have a 'something'™ in it...
* [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|FREDDY'S™ COMING!]]
** [[The Angry Video Game Nerd|Oh God! Is Freddy coming? He sure is!]]
* [[The Nameless Mod]]: The subtitles for the speech of Goats shows that they trademarked slightly misspelled versions of every other word. The most important one is "Melk™", which they use as a drug for some reason.
* ''[[Portal 2]]'' has some of this in the game, but it mostly shows up in the promotional material.
{{quote|
* When players ask [[Blizzard Entertainment]] employees about when something long anticipated in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' will be released, one of the most common responses is "[[Blatant Lies|Soon™]]"
{{quote|
* Tends to be used to a ridiculous degree in a lot of [[Dragon Ball]] lisenced games: the characters in character select screens often have trademark symbols after their names. Good thing it doesn't carry over to dialogue or their lifebars...
* The DOS game Contraption Zack, our titular hero introduces himself with
{{quote|
== [[Web Animation]] ==
Line 111 ⟶ 114:
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''™: "...with my all new DUEL DISK SYSTEM! ...Trademark".
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151117174514/http://bash.org/?246624 This] bash.org quote pokes fun at the Coca-Cola® Corporation.
* In ''[[AH Dot Com the Series]]'', [[Thande]]'s all-purpose suggestion to solve any problem is "Daring Commando Raid™"
* [http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=20506=wmv ScrewAttack's list of Worst Fighting Games Ever] says "Batman (trademark) and Superman (trademark)" during ''Justice League Task Force''.
* Charlie from [http://www.youtube.com/user/charlieissocoollike Charlieissocoolike] does this constantly regarding the phrase "What I decided to do." He pronounces the ™ Tee Em.
* RPGnet threads on Palladium Books get this treatment a lot, including [http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=12510203&postcount=160 This] RPGnet forum post.
* ''[[Retarded Animal Babies]]'' blows this out the window in episode 3. Matt Groening says that he is here to prevent RAB from out-grossing his "vastly superior Simpsons©®™©®©©®©™™©©™™™™™™ movie. (Make sure subtitles are on.)"
* This exchange from [[Hellfire Commentaries]]' [[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Sonic CD]] playthrough, describing the race against Metal Sonic:
{{quote|
'''FTA:''' (laughs)
'''Tom:''' And if you get caught by that, the Death Laser--
'''FTA:''' ™.
'''Tom:''' --you will die.
'''FTA:''' ™.
'''Tom:''' Yes, I trademarked death; that's right.
'''FTA:''' [[Rule of Three|™.]] }}
* [[
* ''[[The Randomverse|"Copyright]] [[Deadpool]] [[The Randomverse|Copy and I'll sue..."]]''
* [[Uncyclopedia]]® (or should that be "the Uncyclopedia®-brand encyclopaedia™"?) claims to hold a patent on [https://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/patented_nonsense patented nonsense] — presumably as a parody of [[The Other Wiki]]'s policies or guidelines against inserting [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Patent_nonsense "patent nonsense"].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Some ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' comics have Homer using these in his speech bubbles.
* From ''[[The Simpsons]]'' show itself:
{{quote|
* ''[[Futurama]]'''s Momcorp apparently holds the trademarks on "screen door" and "love", among other words.
** The Nimbus's laser cannon has a maximum power setting labeled Hyperdeath™.
Line 140 ⟶ 143:
== [[Real Life]] ==
* "The expression '[[Breakfast of Champions]]' is a registered trademark of [[General Mills]], Inc. for use on a breakfast cereal product. The use of the identical expression as the title for [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s book is not intended to indicate an association with or sponsorship by General Mills, nor is it intended to disparage their fine products."
* In a dismaying example
* John W. Scherer, aka The Video Professor, attempted to get [https://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/John_Scherer an Uncyclopedia® article] removed for mocking his trademark "Try My Product®" ([http://tmsearch.uspto.gov USPTO] #3221013, registered 27 March 2007, cancelled 1 Nov 2013). He failed.
* Back when [[UNIX]] was first released as a commercial product in 1983, AT&T started insisting that people refer to it as "the UNIX(tm) Operating System" or something similar to that. People on [[UseNet]] almost immediately started referring to the OS as "UN*X" as a subtle [[Take That]], and there was even one BSD-based product called [[Sdrawkcab Name|"MT XINU"]] whose advertising included such things as a BSD-powered [[Star Wars|X-Wing]] rocketing away from [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|an AT&T logo wreathed in flames.]] This became less popular after AT&T sold off the UNIX group in the mid-1990s.
** Ironically, during the late 1990s, the [[Open Source]] Unix clone Linux (you've heard of it I assume) ran into trademark trouble when a random troll named William Della Croce secured the trademark and attempted to shake down the community for usage rights. Della Croce disappeared back into the woodwork when the trademark was revoked and reassigned to Linus Torvalds himself. Around the same time, some people on Usenet and web forums started replacing "UN*X" with "*n?x", a [[wikipedia:Glob (programming)|filename pattern]] that matches both "Unix" and "Linux".
** Actually, [https://web.archive.org/web/20101029125658/http://www.linuxmark.org/attribution.php you're required to write Linux®] anyway, as the name was trademarked to prevent trolls from registering the name and shaking other publishers down for "royalties" to use it. This fact is great for countertrolling Slashtards who can't help but reflexively type out "(TM) Micro$oft(TM) Whinedoze(TM)(TM)".
** Thanks to a lot of software cross-compatibility, operating systems like Linux, BSD forks, and Mac's Mach/BSD kernel have become known as "*NIX" platforms.
* Another [[Roger Ebert]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20090625063138/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
* Numerous A-list porn stars have their names (or, more accurately, their stage names) trademarked. This is disconcerting enough, but particularly weird in the case of alt-porn star Stoya, whose stage name is no more than a clipped form of her real last name.
* Tell him that's silly to [[Harlan Ellison]], who actually ''did'' register his name as a trademark.
* Real estate agents in the National Association of Realtors must be called {{smallcaps|REALTORS}}®. Yes, with all caps.
* And then there's Bake-Off® as a competition in various fields, originally cooking. Pillsbury® trademarked the name in the US to refer to what was its ''Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest'' since 1949.
* The word spam only refers to unsolicited emails. In order for it to be the canned meat product, it must be [http://www.spam.com/about/internet.aspx SPAM®.]▼
** That's a problem for ''The Great British Bake Off®'' (UK trade marks 2557737 and 2603787, registered 2010 and 2011) which forced the [[PBS|US Public Broadcasting Service]] to adopt a [[Market-Based Title]] for the show.
** It's also a de-facto obstacle to the use of "bake off" in other domains, such as technical competitions for computer coding. Legal precedent already establishes that trademarks apply to very specific categories of goods or services (so Star Wars® as a Lucasfilm® flick isn't entitled to preclude hard news reports from using the term "star wars" as a derogatory label for Ronny Raygun's "Strategic Defence Initiative" from [[The Eighties]]) but the technical competitions are promoted mostly by small, university-backed non-commercial groups who can't afford real money for real lawyers to defend against Pillsbury® legal bullying.
** And yes, this works both ways. Pillsbury® used to own Burger King® but found the name already in use in [[Australia]]. They already owned Hungry Jack® as a brand of flapjack mix, so they named the restaurants Hungry Jack's®.
* Canada Revenue Agency trademarked the common boy's name [https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-revenue-agency-ted-trademark-1.3590201 TED®], which it uses as "transmission electronique des declarations," an "electronic-filing" (E-FILE®) system for income tax.
* A [[Toronto]] pizza joint managed to trademark its local telephone number, [https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark?id=0458946&lang=eng 967-1111®]
▲* The word spam only refers to unsolicited emails. In order for it to be the canned meat product, it must be [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091013192409/http://www.spam.com/about/internet.aspx SPAM®.]
* Remember: This image has been manipulated by [http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressmaterials/pdfs/photoshop_guidelines_pr.pdf Adobe® Photoshop® software].
* Just to note, the last major men's football tournament was not [[The World Cup]], it was the FIFA World Cup
* As a [[Shout-Out]] to [[This Very Wiki]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20131116221114/http://www2.macleans.ca/category/blog-central/arts-culture-blog/tv-guidance/ TV critic Jaime Weinman] always adds a ™ and usually capitalizes the word Trope™ whenever he uses it.
* [[Conan O'Brien]] had to negotiate the right to use ''his own name'' as the title of his [[Conan (TV series)|new show]], as Conan™ is owned by the [[Conan the Barbarian]] franchise.
* [http://www.curtisgotslappedbyawhiteteacher.com/ "Curtis Got Slapped by a White Teacher"]. Not an example of actual snark, as the document seems to be genuine (though it must be seen to be believed). Ms. Bowen probably intended to ''trademark'' her son's name and her own (as if that weren't strange enough), but she has instead ''copyrighted'' them; this may result from her apparent belief, as stated in the letter's opening paragraph, that one's children are one's "intellectual property". (A perusal of the entire document, however, reveals that a discrepancy in nomenclature is the ''least'' of this woman's problems.)
* [[Dave Barry]] parodied this in his book "In Cyberspace" when talking about Windows 95 and Microsoft.
* [[
* @ your library® is a registered trademark of the American Library Association. "The Campaign for America's Libraries can only be a success if libraries across the country-and across the world-use the trademark consistently [https://web.archive.org/web/20140625062032/http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/publicawareness/campaign%40yourlibrary/prtools/downloadlogos/trademark_use_policy in accordance with the following guidelines]."
----
''Tradesnark, Humorous, Things, Random, Trademark, Symbols, Commentary, Funny, World, Spice and Examples are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of TropeCo/TropeCo. in the United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved.''
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Tradesnark]]
[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]
| |||