Some people like to create tension, even for really stupid reasons. Recently a company threatened a blogger who used their trademark in their blog post, but not in such a way that was against trademarks, it was in fact, proper use of the English language.
i-legions.com sent a letter to ZDNet demanding that they remove the phrase “Branded Community” from a blog post. The email which sounds like a total dick email reads “You probably don’t know about us (http://www.i-legions.com — TOTALLY different and way more effective, but that’s another story), so I need to make you aware:
The term Branded Community® is a Federally registered trademark of ours. Your company should not be using the term at all without our express written consent. The article in this link is an example of your unauthorized use of the term:”
So the trademark holder believed that they somehow just own these two words? No don’t think so. Anything that is written grammatically correct is fair game. I can write, my homework, I’m just doing it today, as easily as I can write my homework, I’m lovin it!
When it comes to trademarks you do need to respect them, but not when it involves proper use of the English language.