Geeknet apologized - sort of
Monday, August 9, 2010
Tinker with a US$3 million a year trademark and you are bound to get a reaction.
Geeknet Inc. got its reaction and a smattering of publicity after it used the term "the other white meat" in a spoof "sale" of unicorn meat on April Fools Day.
The National Pork Board, based in Iowa, didn't think this exploitation of their slogan was funny and responded with a 12-page cease and desist order against the website's owner, ThinkGeek, Inc. Aside from offering spoof products, the publicly traded company, based in Fairfax, Va., claims 44 million visitors a month to its website.
The Pork Board's law firm sent the cease and desist letter May 5. In late June, ThinkGeek replied with a quasi-apology. It pointed to the original offending spoof, which is still on its website, and offered "a special discount to everyone offended by the portrayal of Unicorn Meat as 'the new white meat.'"
The National Pork Board collects fees on all pigs sold in the United States and uses them for promotion. Its 2009 report lists a budget of $44.1 million, $7 million for advertising other than its "the other white meat" program. The report doesn't specify how much the pork board spends annually on legal fees. BP