Plate to Palate | F**die fight! Susan Jung banned from using the 'F' word

I plan to start a magazine called "The", then trademark the word so that nobody else can use it. If anyone does, they'll receive a polite letter from me asking them to desist.

If I did that, you'd laugh, right?

That was certainly my reaction when a colleague forwarded me an email from the editor of Foodie magazine, saying they "own the trademark of the word 'Foodie' in Hong Kong" (as well as case variations "FOODIE" and "foodie") and that the South China Morning Post should avoid using the word in future articles and "replace it with a similar word".

I read Foodie (well, they send it to me) but it seems ridiculous that someone can trademark a word that was part of the common vernacular long before the magazine existed. I checked the Post's archives and found we first used it way back in 1993; according to its website, Foodie launched in 2009.

It's different to when Kleenex and Hoover attempted (and failed) to prevent people from using "kleenex" and "hoover" as nouns (as in, "Could you pass me the box of kleenex?") or verbs ("I need to hoover the living room"). Kleenex and Hoover existed as brands long before their names became generic terms for any type of facial tissue or vacuum cleaner.