Actually, I live in Australia, but I still reserve the right to call antipodean copiers “Xeroxes” if I really want to

No this is not 'very serious'. It's only serious for corporations. And last I checked it wasn't illegal for me to refer to just *any* photocopy as a Xerox.

Why? BECAUSE WE LIVE IN AMERICA!!!

Wow, I never realized that Sony was suffering just as much as Britney Spears suffers when people download music online.

I feel my heart bleeding for Sony's loss. If only more companies would threaten me for the way I choose to speak. I'm so much in favor of corporate rights over my own.

This is very serious! Sony no longer 'owns' the word walkman because of its generic public usage interstingly (or whatever the opposite of that is) Xerox(tm) do not have that problem because if they become aware of anybody doing any xeroxing on a non-Xerox(tm) brand machine they send them a letter advising them of the correct usage. If only more companies would make the effort to do the same…

This reminds me of the time back in the 80's when we bought a set of Legos for my sister and it came with a paper giving a stern lecture about how you were supposed to refer to them. “Legos” wrong, “Lego(tm) Brand Bricks” right.

If Adobe had any sense they'd jump on the bandwagon and advertise with slogans like “I'm a Photoshopper” or “Photoshop this”. And verbing the word themselves would even give them some protection from trademark dilution…

But the link is great!

Sometimes, the news is its own satire.

Yeah, after I wrote this I realized that it wasn't funny, it was just, well, actual reporting. Sorry. I won't let it happen again.

I wonder if they've patented there trademark rules….

…ten times funnier than the story. They can't be serious.