Not ‘Photoshopped’
Sep 25th, 2009 | 10 responses
Philip B. Corbett, the NYTimes deputy news editor, is also in charge of The Times’s style manual. Says he:
The folks at Adobe Systems Inc. remind us that “Photoshop” is a registered trademark referring to Adobe’s “digital imaging software products and related services.” It is not, they note, a generic term, and should not be used as a verb to describe the general process of digitally manipulating photographs.
As usual in these cases, their proposed alternatives — for instance, “editing with Photoshop software” or “morphing with Photoshop software” — are a bit unwieldy. And The Times’s stylebook doesn’t insist on using trademarks only as modifiers, if that clashes with idiom (we wouldn’t refer to a 7Up brand soft drink, for example). But trademarks should be uppercase, and we should generally avoid using them as verbs.
Photo credit: bmack303‘s “Ford Galaxy” from the Worth 1000 Redneck Space Race 2 Photoshop contest. Enter the Redneck Space Race 3 contest today. Contest ends Sunday. See also, the first Redneck Space Race gallery.
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10 Responses to “Not ‘Photoshopped’”
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The entire trademark issue is absurd. A mayoral candidate in my area is named Sam Adams. He took out and paid for the domain name samadams.com for his campaign and the company that makes Samuel Adams beer came after him. Now I can see Adobe going after someone who called a competing editing software Photoshop but this is simply absurd.
Well, they did make up the name. So it's not quite as bad as Intel trying to trademark the lower-case letter “i”. But once your product is so successful that it has become the dictionary definition of its category, it seems a little petty to complain.
I agree.
However, when I “googled” trademark use, I came up with all kinds of entries.
I was “photoshopping” my family photo.
They put a “bandaid” on it for me.
When a company name becomes a verb, like Google, or a noun, like bandaid, it usually means company success. They need to shut up and enjoy that success.
If a company wants to protect their trademarks, they are obligated to make an effort to at least notify violators. Typically companies are happy to see their brand names become part of the lexicon. At the same time they don't want to lose their rights to the name, hence the token letters to publishers about trademark infringement.
reminds me of the dust up years ago about trademarked name Kleenex, then Xerox, then Coke…. all companies wanted instead Facial Tissue, copy machine, soft drink. That was before viral concept; in this time, perhaps they'd have been deleriously happy people kept their brand name before the public at every turn, mis-calling facial tissues Kleenex, et al. Funny how times change and what was out could be seen as useful now. Takes a visionary, however.
that was truly funny Dr. J, I didnt know that. Hmm trademark lower case i. That strikes me as trying to trademark dirt.
hope that made you laugh
dr.e
you are insightful ElZagna. Most dont seem to realize that 'defending,' that is, challenging others who use the tradename or variants, is part of how the law is set up to keep one's trademark active. The trademark cannot be held onto if there is no fixed entity to which it is attached, or if a holder allows others to impinge on it. This is the hidden part of a lot of stories we hear, that you note ElZ, that some corps hate going after some little guy, would rather not… but the trademark law requires such.
Tm and © etc, need to be revised for modern times in ways that protect the work product of others, but allow leeway too.
dr.e
ps. loved the pix, Joe
Thanx. The choice of photoshop contest was a nod both to my southern home and the fact that my first car was, in fact, a 1967 Ford Galaxy convertible. Mine was blue. No confederate flag. And I wrecked it!