Could you confuse Walmart with a horse?
In another shining example of intellectual property gone mad, Walmart Corp. has given the owners of the domain “walmart.horse” two weeks to give up use of their domain?
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Why? Because Walmart Corp. feels that there is some possibility that people would in some way think that there was a connection between the two.
I can sort of see where Walmart is coming from, but it borders on the absurd to think that any coherent person would confuse the two.
IP gone wild!
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11 Answers
This isn’t really silly at all. If I pick up a Racing Form and see walmart.horse I would think the company owns the horse. Of course, it’s a lousy name for a horse because I would think it is fat, slow, and full of shit, and make for lousy dog food.
And doesn’t treat its employees well.
Most people would confuse a web site with the domain Walmart.horse with a Walmart corporate site.
It’s precisely because Walmart is such a huge name that people would most likely automatically associate it with whatever else has its name, or part of it. I think Walmart would prefer not to be associated with anything that doesn’t pertain to them. God knows they have enough trouble with that “people of Walmart” stuff.
If the store name were something that is commonly used elsewhere, let’s say “Target” then I’d say maybe they are wrong. If you said “Target Horse” then maybe. Walmart horse I agree would make people think it was owned or had something to do with Walmart I can see why the attorneys would pounce.
It reflects the story of Troy, loads of obese people pack themselves into mini-vans & sneak into the place to wreak havoc in the aisles, confectionary & poor quality meats mostly.
They are just protecting their trademark. They don’t want to become like kleenex or xerox, a generic word for something.
Could I confuse Walmart with a horse?
Yes, because they both have a horses ass behind them.
“My horse, my horse, my arse tattoo for a horse”
In my brief experiances with Walmart and their clientel I feel pretty confident in saying that if they are using the Internet, yes, yes they could and would confuse the two. They would most likely enter the store in hopes of free pony rides for the kids while they shop.
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