Understanding Linguistic Features in Trademarks and Branding
Explore the nuances of linguistic features in trademarks and branding through topics such as generic vs. name-like words, trade mark infringement cases, capitalization norms, and the significance of corpus analysis in understanding language usage in branding. Discover how linguistic expertise plays a crucial role in navigating the complexities of language within the realm of trademarks and branding.
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Botox, themself and slugs Corpus Methods in Many Places Adam Kilgarriff Lexical Computing Ltd
Corpus: a collection of texts How people talk about X Indirect evidence of How people think about X
Case study 1: botox Trade mark infringement Allergan Inc own the mark botox Competitor Klein Becker used it in advertising Allergan sued Klein Becker counter-case Botox is a generic word so cannot be a mark
Well-known past cases In English-speaking world hoover kleenex aspirin biro Fracophonie: bic
Linguistic question When is a word generic and when is it name-like Linguistic expert witness
Lots of evidence This corpus: 876 hits UKWAC: web-crawled, 1.5 b words, 2006 Formal Informal News Blogs Jokes Advertising
Linguistic features Prototypical for brands Pre-modifier Adidas trainers Limited integration into linguistic system
Capitalisation Native speakers think of is as a name they capitalise else not unless beginning of sentence heading Professional writers Capitalise if it is a trademark or risk being sued
Capitalisation But what is the norm? all nouns in UKWaC (freq>50) how often capitalised?
English nouns: % capitalized 15 Adam Kilgarriff 70 60 50 40 Types Tokens 30 20 10 0 <10 <20 <30 <40 <50 <60 <70 <80 <90 =<100
Capitalisation U-shaped distribution Most types Names At or near to 100% capitalised Most tokens Common nouns Under 50% 50-95% not many items
Word Trademark words Colgate Vauxhall Asda Budweiser Boeing Levis Sanyo Ikea Nivea Odeon Contended Sabatier Botox Generic words Ribbon Debacle Itch Macaque Peephole Reunion Schoolboy Fossil Housewife Ferry Frequency % caps 569 6753 6188 707 5995 4494 878 1358 497 2849 98.1 98.2 97.2 98.3 99.4 98.2 97.8 95.7 92.4 97.5 37 94.6 74.5 876 12329 2310 2128 870 242 10502 4238 20981 3799 48786 15.3 2.9 13.9 16.7 22.3 31.7 12.6 12.2 48.2 39.0
Case study 1: botox Trade mark infringement Allergan Inc own the mark botox Competitor Klein Becker used it in advertising Allergan sued Klein Becker counter-case Botox is a generic word so cannot be a mark
Case study 2: Bible Translation Themself BNC 26 0.2 Ukwac: 389, 0.1/m 08: 1191 0.4/m 12: 11,164 0.9/m
Case study 3: Species Which species deserve preserving Rhino vs. roach
cat + dog 0.76 feed,own,love,want,give,allow,adopt,keep,leave,bring,see train,have,get,find,help horse + dog,cat 0.600 feed,own,love,help,give,breed,keep,leave,bring,see,train, allow,put,get,name donkey + pony 0.538 saddle,pet,ride,groom,hitch,domesticate,tether lion + wolf 0.526 shoot,feed,hunt,resemble,breed,spot,tame,kill,encounter chase roach + snail 0.500 repel,squash crocodile + alligator 0.500 wrestle,stuff,spot,embroider,tame goose + pigeon 0.471 feed,breed,pluck,deter,stuff,slaughter,roast,chase
