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 Dear LEGO / 48
47  |  49
Subject: 
Re: Lego newspaper article
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.dear-lego
Date: 
Sat, 28 Nov 1998 18:24:06 GMT
Reply-To: 
lpien@ctp.NOSPAMiwantnospam.com
Viewed: 
2135 times
  
Todd Lehman wrote:

In lugnet.general, "Chad Smith" <csmith@nationalsteel.com> writes:

Shhh!

Hear that trickling sound?  That's the sound of a trademark being diluted.

My local newspaper, the South Bend Tribune,

<said.. snip>

Dear LEGO,

Please consider creating a special e-mail address or web page for people to
report abuses of your trademark(s) -- especially for abuses in the media.

<snip>

--Todd Lehman

Welp, over in lugnet.general (article 849) Ron Kittle referenced an
article in the San Diego Union-Tribune that has the same flaw. I fired
off a letter to the author. Here's the text:

-- start --

To Agnes Roletti, reporter for the Local News Section (please forward if
you would... Thanks!):

Dear Agnes,

I read with interest your subject article, which I found referenced in
the newsgroup lugnet.general (1), Thanks for writing it, and for
capturing the essence of what will surely be a very neat park. I hope to
be there on opening day with my family, as do many other Lego(tm) fans
from around the US. Plans are already underway and being coordinated on
the internet by an avid group of adult fans.

One truly minor point I noticed, in this paragraph...

The curving steel track of a roller coaster ride, the solid masonry
walls of a
hilltop castle and dozens of large and whimsical models made out of
Legos
leave little of what the completed park will look like to the
imagination.

Since Lego is a trademarked brand name, just like Kleenex or Coke, it is
more proper to say:

... made out of Lego >>bricks<< leave little ...

since that does not dilute the trademark.  (>> << for emphasis of the
difference)

The Lego Group is a wonderful company. Their toys emphasize construction
and creativity over destruction and consumerism. I especially appreciate
some of their policies, such as not making military themed toys, and
their policy of making minifigs only in yellow. Yellow, of course, is
not a real skin tone, so they're emphasizing that skin color does not
matter. That sort of non violent, tolerant, constructive environment is
just the sort I want for my children, both of who also are avid Lego
fans. That's why I feel it's important to help TLG protect the brand.

San Diego is very lucky to be getting Legoland. I'm sure you and your
kids (if you have any) will enjoy it very much.

Again, thanks for your article. No reply to this note is necessary.

1 - this group is hosted on the lugnet.com newsserver, a fan sponsored
newsserver. You can find more details about this server at
http://www.lugnet.com/news and about the Lego Users Group NETwork in
general at http://www.lugnet.com ... fans of Lego are quite active on
the internet.

-- end --

Any comments?

Note to anyone else contemplating a letter to other newspapers: explicit
permission is granted to incorporate all or part of the above letter if
you find it useful. However, if you write to the Union-Tribune, I'd
appreciate it if you used your own words. Form letters tend to dilute
the effectiveness of a message, a lesson I learned as a political
activist...

--
Larry Pieniazek    http://my.voyager.net/lar
For me: No voyager e-mail please. All snail-mail to Ada, please.
- Posting Binaries to RTL causes flamage... Don't do it, please.
- Stick to the facts when posting about others, please.
- This is a family newsgroup, thanks.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Lego newspaper article
 
(...) Dear LEGO, Please consider creating a special e-mail address or web page for people to report abuses of your trademark(s) -- especially for abuses in the media. Reports of abuses could then be forwarded to an appropriate Public Relations (...) (26 years ago, 25-Nov-98, to lugnet.dear-lego)

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