It is a case from the mid-1980s I remember well. It was concerned with the notion of passing off, in this instance the use of a trademark considered to be similar to that of another business. The two protagonists were Laura Ashley and the wallpaper/home furnishings company Coloroll. The latter had developed a range of wallpapers that had a similar look to Laura Ashley's. This wasn't really the problem; the logo was. Coloroll's logo looked not unlike Laura Ashley's. It was an oval and had a sort of flowery arrangement inside it. So did Laura Ashley's. Whether consumers were inclined to think that there was some association between the two businesses is doubtful, but this wasn't of course the point; Laura Ashley's intellectual property and the goodwill and attributes of its brand were.
There is a very well-known global restaurant brand which has an establishment in Palma. Away from the capital, there is - or was - a restaurant that isn't globally known. Its name was very similar. Its logo was pretty much identical to the globally known brand. There was an application to register this as a trademark, which was seemingly and probably unsurprisingly opposed. Nevertheless, the restaurant with the similar name and logo operated for a season before changing the name the following season. The logo also changed, but not to the extent that this prevented a reviewer on Trip Advisor from still being able to comment on the similarity with a famous chain of restaurants.
The restaurant with the similar name and logo appears to be no more. At any rate, when I passed by the other day the sign was down and the "local" appeared to have been cleared. If it is no more, then it is a bit of a shame. It wasn't bad, and for the most part reviews on Trip Advisor agreed that it wasn't bad. But one does have to ask why it was felt necessary to apparently wish to imitate a very well-known restaurant. Surely some form of challenge had to be expected, which at best might mean having to go the trouble and cost of changing signs, menus etc. At worst, it might mean far more. Were the punters likely to have thought that there was a genuine association with the well-known brand? Probably not. In which case, why bother?
In Tenerife, lawyers acting for Gordon Ramsay are trying to find ways of dealing with a restaurant in Puerto Colon which has been trading by the name "Gordon Ransay's" for the past four years or so. You would think that, despite the alteration of one letter in the name, this is a clear infringement of intellectual property. Even with this one letter change, the script style of the restaurant's name could lead one to read it as "Ramsay", while the "R" is not a million miles away from the "R" that is in Ramsay's signature trademark. To make matters worse, this particular restaurant gets some rotten reviews. Ramsay has every right to be furious and to be frustrated by the difficulties encountered in tackling this apparent passing off.
Andema is the national association for the defence of trademarks and brands. Its director-general said recently that Mallorca and the Canaries were "black spots" for trademark falsification. He was speaking in the context of a product counterfeiting case involving a Chinese retailer who had been fined a mere 240 euros for selling a bag with the Louis Vuitton name. The reason for the low fine was that, though the retailer had acquired 1,075 pirated Vuitton bags, 1,074 of them were in a warehouse. Only one had been in the store.
Whether counterfeiting or passing off, the principle is the same; there is an attack on intellectual property, and I imagine most of us will be fully aware of the counterfeiting that exists in Mallorca. No one is really duped into believing they're buying the genuine item (or at least you would hope they aren't), and while it might seem fairly innocuous to buy some fake sunglasses or what have you, the scale of the counterfeiting is anything but innocuous.
A national law of 2001 was designed to help protect large and well-known brands from infringements. How well it is being applied is perhaps a question that Gordon Ramsay might like an answer to, but there may nevertheless be a danger that it goes too far in undermining efforts of local entrepreneurs, such as those behind the successful Lemon Factory, makers of Pep Lemon. While the process of a challenge by Pepsi to its Pep Cola is ongoing, the company is marketing it simply as "Pep". There may be some similarity, but as everyone knows, Pep is a common name in Mallorca. Would anyone seriously mistake a Pep Cola for a Pepsi? No, but then such is the way with intellectual property.
Showing posts with label Logos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Logos. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Still Needing Spain?: Catalonia's tourism
What one notices about the "España" is, for example, that the final "a" looks almost like a chair with its left leg slightly raised and the right leg given a base topped with green that protrudes at a 90 degree angle. The yellow and red colours contained in "España" mirror those of the Miró sun; otherwise, and apart from the black lettering, this green at the foot of the "a" is the only other colour. The style is unmistakable and so also are the colours; they are very typically Miró.
Joan Miró was born in Barcelona. The logo was one of his final creations before he died at the end of 1983. But, thirty years on, the logo has been given some new life, and this new life has emanated from Barcelona. There is another logo. Or what might be taken to be a logo. It is for "Catalunya". Its style is, to say the least, highly reminiscent of the "España" typography. The final "a" doesn't have a base that protrudes as far and it also isn't topped with green, but in other respects, including the red inside the "a", it is the same.
At the recent Fitur travel fair in Madrid, a magazine was presented which promotes Catalonia's tourism. On its cover was this very Miró-looking "Catalunya". The website "El Confidencial" has drawn attention to this magazine, though not, it must be said, to the similarities with the "España" (I'm the one doing this). In three languages - Catalan, Castellano and English - it is what the magazine says which has been highlighted. "Welcome. Catalonia, a European country that is open to the world, dynamic and enterprising, rich in history and culture, with a vast diversity of landscapes." You will note that there is something assertive about this welcome. Catalonia is a country. Not part of another country, but a country in its own right.
Just what Turespaña make of the typography, heaven only knows. If it is only an imitation for the cover of a magazine, then they'll probably let it go, but if it were more than this, then it is almost certainly a case of passing-off. It is too similar not to be. But in imitating the "España", the "Catalunya" is like a red rag to the Spanish bull, enraged even more by the fact that it is against text which claims that Catalonia is a European country. At present, Catalonia is not a European country, and indeed it may still not be come this time next year.
What will doubtless enrage further is what is in this magazine. Aimed at both tourists and investors, there is a brief history of Catalonia and reminder of the "loss of liberties" in 1714 (the Nueva Planta, proscription of Catalan and Catalonian institutions, King Philip V, end of the War of the Spanish Succession and establishment of the Bourbon dynasty and all that). As an exercise in pre-emptory propaganda ahead of the independence referendum (assuming it goes ahead), the department of the presidency in Catalonia, which was responsible for the publication, has made a bid to already establish Catalonia as a separate entity and as a separate tourism destination.
Whatever happens with the referendum, Catalonia is forging ahead in developing its tourism promotional activities. Helped with the additional revenue from its tourist tax, it has more money to spend directly on promotion, but it is also beefing up its global presence. A new tourism promotion office has been opened in Sao Paulo in Brazil to add to other ones which have been opened in China, south-east Asia, North America and elsewhere in Latin America. Catalonia's minister for business and employment, Felip Puig, said at the Fitur fair that while Catalonia will continue to work with the "Marca España", which in tourism terms is the "I Need Spain" campaign, there will also be a specific and separate promotional strategy. The groundwork, where tourism for an independent Catalonia is concerned, has already been prepared.
But while Catalonia may be acting as though it were already independent and be preparing for a tourism strategy that is divorced from Turespaña, it may also find, as with other aspects of independence, that things get complicated. An example of this is the Barcelona (BCN) World development of casinos and what have you by PortAventura. It is a project that Catalonia will want to ensure goes ahead, but if there is the prospect of Catalonia being outside the European Union and if the Catalonian government doesn't drastically reduce its gaming tax, then it won't go ahead.
Borrowing typography via Miró from Turespaña may be a propaganda ploy, but Catalonia may yet discover that it still needs Spain. For tourism and for everything else.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Tell Me More
One of those catching-up days, with feedback on a number of things - cleanliness, tourism strategy and the Pollensa Ç carry-on. Oh, and weather, the least said about, quite honestly, the better. Except they say it will be better from tomorrow, and it may well be, but they've been saying that for at least a fortnight.
Firstly, to cleanliness, and Geoff confirms that a clean bill of health for a toilet is a sure guarantor of repeat patronage. His wife has a scoring system for loo cleanliness, with those receiving "nul point" or not many being relegated from the Bar-Restaurant Premier (though they were probably only Conference level to begin with). Like "Strictly Come Dancing" or ice-skating, there should be panels of tourists trekking to and from toilets with their score cards and holding them aloft post-pan pointing. Here therefore is another thing for bars etc to consider when next putting together their publicity: "We have clean toilets"; "The cleanest loos in ..." Another sure winner like the "we have number ones" of the haircut piece of a while back. Beats "specialists in meat" any day.
Secondly, the whole business about tourism diversification. And here's what John has to say:
"I see from a number of your blog entries that the tourist authorities are getting worried about maintaining visitor numbers to Mallorca. Having visited the island many times and lived there for a period, it is abundantly clear where the problem areas are.
"Just as with the acting fraternity, tourist destinations get type-cast and as you rightly point out, 30 years of mass tourism have left Mallorca with the image of sun, sand and surf. Then, of course, the towns like Arenal and Magaluf and the greasy mile in Alcúdia have added big-belly-boozer to the image. Printing posters that say 'golf and fine dining' aren't going to make much of a dent. Mallorca is not exactly on the gastronomic route in Europe. I believe you made a good point to me once, when you said that they should concentrate on making Mallorca a winter destination as well. This would require putting in suitable weather-proof entertainment. Maybe a small Disney Land somewhere.
"The authorities need to work out their demographics and see which groups make up the main tourist numbers and if they are British and German, which I am certain they will be, then for heaven's sake make the place language friendly. I came across with my tennis racquet but despite all efforts never came close to getting a game. The tennis complex on Crta. Arta (Puerto Alcúdia) is a ghost town. The office is always closed and when I asked some youngsters who were playing there for some information, they said they just slipped in and played a game and then left. No one was ever able to give me any information.
"I can just imagine what these so-called think tanks are like. A bunch of insular pro-Catalan/Mallorquín civil servants trying to coin catchy slogans. I can see all the signage changing to Catalan to add to the confusion that already exists, with different town names depending on which map you have. Mallorca will not easily lose its present image, and indeed does it want to, as this brings in a fair amount of revenue. It needs a dual image, and I believe that if it develops the infrastructure and the marketing promotion needed for a winter destination, this will gradually drag over into the summer season. They should hurry as countries like Croatia and Montenegro are starting to stir."
Well, some of this does rather reinforce some of what I'm been saying. I should point out that the current think tank, that one convened by the British Consul, is, save for the presence perhaps of IBATUR, the tourism promotion unit, not comprised of local civil servants, even if the stamp of local thinking is inked into other aspects of tourism promotion, like the Pollensa Ç. Which brings me to the third piece of feedback.
Seamus wonders if any "bright spark" might have thought about the letter P rather than the Ç, which would have been a suitably fine piece of mis-promotion in the sense that the P is universally known as a symbol for Parking, which, as anyone knows, there is an absence of in Pollensa. "P - Come to Pollensa and Park." He also wonders about the cock as in like the one on the roundabout, but now it's mentioned, I thought the cock was the Pollensa symbol. Did it not used to be? Maybe it still is. Perhaps though there was a rare display of cross-cultural and linguistic understanding in that "cock" may not be the most appropriate word for the British. Apart from the obvious, there is also the expression "a load of cock". Another c-letter, not far removed from ç.
At a rather more official level, the singularly un-Catalan-sounding Cathy Sweeney, speaking for a body behind the Catalan language, says that the adoption of the Ç to promote the Balearic language should not interfere with Pollensa's tourism promotion and also that the letter cannot be registered as a "brand name". Precisely.
QUIZ
Chain - Another film by The Who was "Quadrophenia" in which Sting played the Ace Face. Not so much a chain question, but what is the in-joke about Sting in Quadrophenia in the "Men Behaving Badly" special where Gary takes them to Worthing? Yesterday's title - Camera Obscura. (See this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiLh9rkvjac). Today's title - where's this from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Firstly, to cleanliness, and Geoff confirms that a clean bill of health for a toilet is a sure guarantor of repeat patronage. His wife has a scoring system for loo cleanliness, with those receiving "nul point" or not many being relegated from the Bar-Restaurant Premier (though they were probably only Conference level to begin with). Like "Strictly Come Dancing" or ice-skating, there should be panels of tourists trekking to and from toilets with their score cards and holding them aloft post-pan pointing. Here therefore is another thing for bars etc to consider when next putting together their publicity: "We have clean toilets"; "The cleanest loos in ..." Another sure winner like the "we have number ones" of the haircut piece of a while back. Beats "specialists in meat" any day.
Secondly, the whole business about tourism diversification. And here's what John has to say:
"I see from a number of your blog entries that the tourist authorities are getting worried about maintaining visitor numbers to Mallorca. Having visited the island many times and lived there for a period, it is abundantly clear where the problem areas are.
"Just as with the acting fraternity, tourist destinations get type-cast and as you rightly point out, 30 years of mass tourism have left Mallorca with the image of sun, sand and surf. Then, of course, the towns like Arenal and Magaluf and the greasy mile in Alcúdia have added big-belly-boozer to the image. Printing posters that say 'golf and fine dining' aren't going to make much of a dent. Mallorca is not exactly on the gastronomic route in Europe. I believe you made a good point to me once, when you said that they should concentrate on making Mallorca a winter destination as well. This would require putting in suitable weather-proof entertainment. Maybe a small Disney Land somewhere.
"The authorities need to work out their demographics and see which groups make up the main tourist numbers and if they are British and German, which I am certain they will be, then for heaven's sake make the place language friendly. I came across with my tennis racquet but despite all efforts never came close to getting a game. The tennis complex on Crta. Arta (Puerto Alcúdia) is a ghost town. The office is always closed and when I asked some youngsters who were playing there for some information, they said they just slipped in and played a game and then left. No one was ever able to give me any information.
"I can just imagine what these so-called think tanks are like. A bunch of insular pro-Catalan/Mallorquín civil servants trying to coin catchy slogans. I can see all the signage changing to Catalan to add to the confusion that already exists, with different town names depending on which map you have. Mallorca will not easily lose its present image, and indeed does it want to, as this brings in a fair amount of revenue. It needs a dual image, and I believe that if it develops the infrastructure and the marketing promotion needed for a winter destination, this will gradually drag over into the summer season. They should hurry as countries like Croatia and Montenegro are starting to stir."
Well, some of this does rather reinforce some of what I'm been saying. I should point out that the current think tank, that one convened by the British Consul, is, save for the presence perhaps of IBATUR, the tourism promotion unit, not comprised of local civil servants, even if the stamp of local thinking is inked into other aspects of tourism promotion, like the Pollensa Ç. Which brings me to the third piece of feedback.
Seamus wonders if any "bright spark" might have thought about the letter P rather than the Ç, which would have been a suitably fine piece of mis-promotion in the sense that the P is universally known as a symbol for Parking, which, as anyone knows, there is an absence of in Pollensa. "P - Come to Pollensa and Park." He also wonders about the cock as in like the one on the roundabout, but now it's mentioned, I thought the cock was the Pollensa symbol. Did it not used to be? Maybe it still is. Perhaps though there was a rare display of cross-cultural and linguistic understanding in that "cock" may not be the most appropriate word for the British. Apart from the obvious, there is also the expression "a load of cock". Another c-letter, not far removed from ç.
At a rather more official level, the singularly un-Catalan-sounding Cathy Sweeney, speaking for a body behind the Catalan language, says that the adoption of the Ç to promote the Balearic language should not interfere with Pollensa's tourism promotion and also that the letter cannot be registered as a "brand name". Precisely.
QUIZ
Chain - Another film by The Who was "Quadrophenia" in which Sting played the Ace Face. Not so much a chain question, but what is the in-joke about Sting in Quadrophenia in the "Men Behaving Badly" special where Gary takes them to Worthing? Yesterday's title - Camera Obscura. (See this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiLh9rkvjac). Today's title - where's this from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, June 01, 2008
The Letter
One of those fine daft little local rumpuses has cropped up in Pollensa. This one has to do with the c-cedilla (Ç).
Some of you may recall my speaking about Pollensa town hall's adoption of Ç as its tourism symbol. You can see it around and about; it's even used to draw attention to the useless www.pollensa.com, the town hall's website that cannot integrate the Ç into the domain address - so much for joined-up marketing thinking. The Ç will, for many an overseas visitor, be more symbolic of France, but it is also Catalan, and Pollença is the Catalan spelling for something that everyone else spells Pollensa. The Ç branding is an exercise in parochial marketing - it is introspective and singular in its affinity to a Catalan-understanding audience (unless you also count the French). Quite what it is meant to "say" about Pollensa (or indeed Pollença) is anyone's guess, other than declaring "we've got a Ç and you haven't", the only problem being that, unfortunately, the Pollensa Ç is not unique among place names in Mallorca, among tourist place names in Mallorca - Santa Ponsa is also cedilla-ised in Catalan. Maybe Alcúdia should brand itself Ú.
Anyway, the rumpus has to do with the confusion that is likely to be caused, so they reckon, by the fact that the Ç has also been adopted as the symbol to promote the Balearic islands' own language. Pollensa town hall wants such confusion to be avoided, and says that the Ç is a registered logo for Pollensa tourism. That it may be the symbol for this tourism, questionable in its sensibleness though it may also be, is not in dispute, though how a letter can be deemed a proprietary logo I'm not entirely sure. It would be a bit like Manchester saying that the letter "M" belongs to the city and to the city alone, whereas we all know that it belongs to James Bond. The alphabet, unlike brand names or branded abbreviations, is public property.
I'm not sure what the French make of all this, even if they know about it. Ç has international linguistic currency as being French. If anyone should be jealously guarding the letter, then it should be the French and their language police. The linguistic purpose of the cedilla is to denote that the sound is sibilant, i.e. a hiss; the local difficulty in Pollensa has all the air, or rather discordant air, of a hissy-fit.
I'm afraid to have to return to the subject of road accidents and to the notorious stretch of road along the coast between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. The other night there was a head-on collision between a taxi and a car being driven by a member of the Guardia Civil who was killed. Two weeks ago there was another loss of life along the same road.
The latest accident took place near to the Club Pollentia resort. Not knowing the exact circumstances of the accident, it would be wrong to speculate as to the cause, but in the immediate area by the Club Pollentia there is a combination of factors that can be, and unfortunately are, disastrous - the bend in the road just before the hotel complex coming from Alcúdia, the turning into the complex itself, speed and lack of lights. Even in daytime it can be dangerous.
Recently, a list of island blackspots was drawn up. I haven't seen the list, but locally the Alcúdia-Puerto Pollensa would be one, together with the Cala San Vicente turning off the Pollensa-Puerto Pollensa road and the frightening junction between the Puerto Alcúdia bypass that goes behind Bellevue and the road between the horse roundabout and close to the main roundabout as one comes into Alcúdia.
In the case of the Alcúdia-Puerto Pollensa road, I'm not sure what can be done. A roundabout to slow traffic might help, but there probably isn't the room. Perhaps it might just be better if the beach were to be reclaimed after all, and the road closed completely (9 May: "Road To Nowhere").
QUIZ
Chain - Nik Kershaw, "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"; Elton John, "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". And what is the connection between Elton and The Who? Yesterday's title - ELO. Today's title - who originally made this song famous?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Some of you may recall my speaking about Pollensa town hall's adoption of Ç as its tourism symbol. You can see it around and about; it's even used to draw attention to the useless www.pollensa.com, the town hall's website that cannot integrate the Ç into the domain address - so much for joined-up marketing thinking. The Ç will, for many an overseas visitor, be more symbolic of France, but it is also Catalan, and Pollença is the Catalan spelling for something that everyone else spells Pollensa. The Ç branding is an exercise in parochial marketing - it is introspective and singular in its affinity to a Catalan-understanding audience (unless you also count the French). Quite what it is meant to "say" about Pollensa (or indeed Pollença) is anyone's guess, other than declaring "we've got a Ç and you haven't", the only problem being that, unfortunately, the Pollensa Ç is not unique among place names in Mallorca, among tourist place names in Mallorca - Santa Ponsa is also cedilla-ised in Catalan. Maybe Alcúdia should brand itself Ú.
Anyway, the rumpus has to do with the confusion that is likely to be caused, so they reckon, by the fact that the Ç has also been adopted as the symbol to promote the Balearic islands' own language. Pollensa town hall wants such confusion to be avoided, and says that the Ç is a registered logo for Pollensa tourism. That it may be the symbol for this tourism, questionable in its sensibleness though it may also be, is not in dispute, though how a letter can be deemed a proprietary logo I'm not entirely sure. It would be a bit like Manchester saying that the letter "M" belongs to the city and to the city alone, whereas we all know that it belongs to James Bond. The alphabet, unlike brand names or branded abbreviations, is public property.
I'm not sure what the French make of all this, even if they know about it. Ç has international linguistic currency as being French. If anyone should be jealously guarding the letter, then it should be the French and their language police. The linguistic purpose of the cedilla is to denote that the sound is sibilant, i.e. a hiss; the local difficulty in Pollensa has all the air, or rather discordant air, of a hissy-fit.
I'm afraid to have to return to the subject of road accidents and to the notorious stretch of road along the coast between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. The other night there was a head-on collision between a taxi and a car being driven by a member of the Guardia Civil who was killed. Two weeks ago there was another loss of life along the same road.
The latest accident took place near to the Club Pollentia resort. Not knowing the exact circumstances of the accident, it would be wrong to speculate as to the cause, but in the immediate area by the Club Pollentia there is a combination of factors that can be, and unfortunately are, disastrous - the bend in the road just before the hotel complex coming from Alcúdia, the turning into the complex itself, speed and lack of lights. Even in daytime it can be dangerous.
Recently, a list of island blackspots was drawn up. I haven't seen the list, but locally the Alcúdia-Puerto Pollensa would be one, together with the Cala San Vicente turning off the Pollensa-Puerto Pollensa road and the frightening junction between the Puerto Alcúdia bypass that goes behind Bellevue and the road between the horse roundabout and close to the main roundabout as one comes into Alcúdia.
In the case of the Alcúdia-Puerto Pollensa road, I'm not sure what can be done. A roundabout to slow traffic might help, but there probably isn't the room. Perhaps it might just be better if the beach were to be reclaimed after all, and the road closed completely (9 May: "Road To Nowhere").
QUIZ
Chain - Nik Kershaw, "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"; Elton John, "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". And what is the connection between Elton and The Who? Yesterday's title - ELO. Today's title - who originally made this song famous?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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