Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 708.
Trademarks and Logos This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 708.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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More information can be found on our website.
This episode is called Trademarks and Logos.
Let's get started.
Look at this logo I designed for our new line of products.
That's really nice, but it looks a lot like our competitor's logo.
In fact, it's almost identical.
No, it's not.
The color is a different shade of green.
The graphic is smaller.
And instead of a picture of a woman, I'm using a picture of a man.
They're nothing alike.
That's not what most people would say.
Looking at your logo and our competitor's logo side by side, I'd say this was a clear case of trademark infringement.
Okay, to be honest, I purposely made them look a little alike so that customers will associate our products with their brand.
So what?
I don't think that's a big deal.
So, what do you want me to do?
Go back to the drawing board.
Literally.
Literally, bianca begins by saying look at this logo i designed for our new line of products.
A logo l-o-g-o is the image used to identify a company or an organization.
It's usually what goes above or below their name.
It's a special symbol that you recognize that company from.
The symbol, the logo for Apple Computer is an apple that has a small bite taken out of it.
The logo that Bianca designed is for their new line of products.
A line of products are a set of related things.
You could have a line of products for shoes.
There would be a number of different kinds or styles of shoes.
To design means to create some sort of image or shape or style of something.
The person who creates the logo, who designs the logo, is called a designer.
Vien says, but it looks a lot like our competitor's logo.
Vien is saying that he likes the logo, but it looks like someone else's logo.
They're competitors.
A competitor.
C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-O-R is a company that sells products or services similar to the ones that your company sells.
So the two companies are competing.
They are trying to get the same customers.
Coke and Pepsi are competitors in the world of soft drinks, of sodas.
Vien says, in fact, the logo you designed, Bianca, is almost identical.
Something that is identical is the same as something else.
There are no differences between them.
We talk about identical twins, two boys or two girls that are born at the same time from the same mother, who look exactly alike.
I have two older brothers who are identical twins.
One of them is named Mark, and the other one is named Mike.
But I don't know who is who.
I still can't tell them apart.
That is, I don't know which one is Mark and which one is Mike.
Maybe someday.
So Vienne is saying that this logo that Bianca designed is almost identical with their competitors.
Bianca says, no, it's not.
The color is a different shade of green.
A shade is a slight difference in a color.
Colors have different shades.
Small differences.
She says that the logo she designed has a different shade of green.
The graphic she says is smaller.
The graphic is the image, especially an image that is created by a computer.
Often the word graphic is used to describe something that doesn't have any text, any lettering, any words on it.
She says, Instead of a picture of a woman, I'm using a picture of a man.
They're nothing alike.
When we say some things are nothing alike, we mean they are completely different.
They are not similar in any way.
Vien says that's not what most people would say.
Meaning.
If we showed your logo to people outside of our company, most of them would say that they are identical.
Bien says looking at your logo and our competitor's logo side by side, I'd say this was a clear case of trademark infringement.
The expression side by side means two things are placed or put right next to each other so that you can look at them and see how they are different and how they are similar.
Vienne is saying, if you take the new logo from Bianca and compare it to the competitor's logo, that it would be a case, a clear case, of trademark infringement.
Trademarks are official registrations that you make with the government, usually a company after it designs a logo or it has some sort of expression that it uses in its advertising.
The company will get a trademark for it.
They will ask the government to protect it so that no one else can copy it.
No one else can use it.
We at ESL Podcast have... a trademark, ESL POD, our website is trademarked.
Those six letters together are trademarked.
They are protected by the U.S. government's laws and by extension international laws.
To infringe on something means to violate or to break some sort of rule or law.
So when we talk about trademark infringement, we're talking about someone who uses illegally, without permission, someone else's logo or graphic or phrase that the company has used, protected with their trademark.
Vienne thinks this is a clear case or a clear example of trademark infringement.
Bianca says okay, to be honest if I'm telling the truth, I purposely made them look alike, a little alike, she says.
Customers will associate our products with their brand.
To associate means to connect two things, to believe that two things are related.
Associate has other meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations of those.
Bianca wants their customers to associate their products, the things that they sell, with the other company's brand.
A brand, B-R-A-N-D, is the particular name and design of a company's product.
For example, there are different brands of tennis shoes.
Different companies make different kinds of shoes.
One company may have several different brands, several different types that go by the same name and have a similar design.
If it's a big company, often the company really has only one brand.
Bianca then says, so what?
Meaning, who cares?
This is not important.
She says, I don't think that's a big deal.
Meaning, I don't think it's important.
Vienne says, our competitor has exclusive rights to use its logo.
Rights are your legal abilities to do something.
Exclusive rights are things that only you can do or your company can do.
If the company trademarks a logo, only that company can use the logo.
They have exclusive rights.
No one else can use them.
Vien says, if ours is too similar, the trademark registry and the courts are going to nail us.
The trademark registry is the official list of all of the government-registered trademarks.
You can go to a website nowadays and look for those.
The courts refer to the legal institutions in a country.
The courts Vien thinks are going to nail us if our logo is too similar to the logo of our competitors.
To nail someone is an informal expression that here means to get someone in trouble or to punish someone for having done something wrong.
If the professor sees you cheating on an examination, he's going to nail you.
He's going to get you in a lot of trouble.
Bianca says, so what do you want me to do?
Fien replies, go back to the drawing board, literally.
To go back to the drawing board is an expression that means to begin something again.
Now, a drawing board is where you would draw or design something.
But the expression is normally used in any situation where you are asking someone to start a project from the beginning, to do it over, usually because they've done it wrong or they don't have a very good idea.
In this case, Bianca actually was using a real project. drawing board.
And that's why Vienne says at the end of the expression, literally.
Literally refers to the actual direct meaning of words, not a symbolic meaning of the word.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Look at this logo i designed for our new line of products.
That's really nice, but it looks a lot like our competitors logo.
In fact, it's almost identical.
No, it's not.
The color is a different shade of green, the graphic is smaller and instead of a picture of a woman, i'm using a picture of a man.
They're nothing alike.
That's not what most people would say.
Looking at your logo and our competitor's logo side by side, I'd say this was a clear case of trademark infringement.
Okay, to be honest, I purposely made them look a little alike so that customers will associate our products with their brand.
So what?
I don't think that's a big deal.
Our competitor has exclusive rights to use its logo.
If ours is too similar, the trademark registry and the courts are going to nail us.
So what do you want me to do?
Go back to the drawing board, literally.
Many people associate ESL podcast with interesting scripts.
Well, those scripts are written by our own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again soon here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
