1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> 2<HTML> 3<HEAD> 4 5<!-- Page Design: Susan Fell Johnson, Computer Analyst, Hormel Foods Corporation --> 6<!-- Copyright: 2003 Hormel Foods, Inc. --> 7<!-- Last Revised: 18 April 2003 --> 8 9<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 10 11<TITLE>RE: SPAM: SPAM and the Internet</TITLE> 12 13<!-- Place JavaScript functions here --> 14<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> 15<!-- hide this script from non-javascript-enabled browsers 16 17function itWinOpen() { 18 open("/it.htm","SPAMInTime","toolbar=no,resizable=no,width=587,height=335"); 19 20} 21 22// stop hiding --> 23</SCRIPT> 24 25</HEAD> 26 27<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#3300CC" VLINK="#FF6600" ALINK="#3300CC" TOPMARGIN="0" LEFTMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" MARGINWIDTH="0"> 28<CENTER> 29 30<TABLE WIDTH="585" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" COLSPAN="3"> 31 <TR> 32 33 <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="358" COLSPAN="2"> <IMG SRC="/assets/ci/ci_in_a1.gif" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="358" HEIGHT="106" BORDER="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" USEMAP="#ci"> 34 </TD> 35 36 37 <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="227" ROWSPAN="2"> <IMG SRC="/assets/ci/ci_in_a2.gif" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="227" HEIGHT="158" BORDER="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" USEMAP="#nav"> 38 </TD> 39 </TR> 40 41 <TR> 42 <TD WIDTH="35"> 43 <IMG SRC="/assets/shared/trans.gif" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1" BORDER="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> 44 </TD> 45 46 <TD WIDTH="323"> 47 <P> 48 <BR> 49 50 <FONT SIZE="+2" COLOR="#FF0000"><B><TT>SPAM</TT> <TT>and</TT> <TT>the</TT> <TT>Internet</TT></B></FONT> 51 <P> 52You've probably seen, heard or even used the term "spamming" to refer to the act of sending unsolicited commercial email (UCE), or "spam" to refer to the UCE itself. Following is our position on the relationship between UCE and our trademark SPAM. 53<P> 54Use of the term "spam" was adopted as a result of the Monty Python skit in which a group of Vikings sang a chorus of "spam, spam, spam . . . " in an increasing crescendo, drowning out other conversation. Hence, the analogy applied because UCE was drowning out normal discourse on the Internet. 55<P> 56We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be used in all lower-case letters to distinguish it from our trademark SPAM, which should be used with all uppercase letters. 57<P> 58This slang term does not affect the strength of our trademark SPAM. In a Federal District Court case involving the famous trademark STAR WARS owned by LucasFilms, the Court ruled that the slang term used to refer to the Strategic Defense Initiative did not weaken the trademark and the Court refused to stop its use as a slang term. Other examples of famous trademarks having a different slang meaning include MICKEY MOUSE, to describe something as unsophisticated; TEFLON, used to describe President Reagan; and CADILLAC, used to denote something as being high quality. 59<P> 60<FONT SIZE="+1"><B><TT>Position</TT> <TT>Statement</TT> <TT>on</TT> <TT>"Spamming"</TT></B></FONT> 61<P> 62We oppose the act of "spamming" or sending UCE. We have never engaged in this practice, although we have been victimized by it. If you have been one of those who has received UCE with a return address using our website address of SPAM.com, it wasn't us. It's easy and commonplace for somebody sending UCE to simply adopt a fake header ID, which disguises the true source of the UCE and makes it appear that it is coming from someone else. If you have or do receive UCE with this header ID, please understand that it didn't come from us. 63<P> 64<FONT SIZE="+1"><B><TT>Other</TT> <TT>"spam"</TT> <TT>Websites</TT></B></FONT> 65<P> 66This is the one and only official SPAM Website, brought to you by the makers of the SPAM Family of products. All of the others have been created by somebody else. We are not associated with those other websites and are not responsible for their content. As a Company, we are opposed to content that is obscene, vulgar or otherwise not "family friendly." We support positive family values and you can count on us for "safe surfing" by your children. 67<P> 68Thank you for visiting the official SPAM Website!<BR> 69For more information see <A HREF="/hp/hp_lg.htm"> Legal and Copyright Info</A> 70 71 72<P> 73 74 </TD> 75 </TR> 76</TABLE> 77 78 79 <!----ASCII Navigation--------> 80 81 <PRE> <FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF0000">_________________________________________</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#009900"><|<A HREF="/index.htm">hom<U>e</U></A><U> > < <A HREF="/sp.htm">SPAM|</A> > < <A HREF="javascript:itWinOpen()">SPAM in time </A>> |< <A HREF="/es.htm">eat SPAM</A> > < <FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF00CC">|</FONT><A HREF="/ss.htm">S</A></U><A HREF="/ss.htm">PAM stu<U>ff </U></A><U>|> </U></FONT><U></U><BR> <FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF6600"><U> | </U></FONT><U></U><BR> <FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#009900"><U> |< <A HREF="/ci.htm">re: SPAM </A>> </U></FONT><U><FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF6600">|</FONT></U><U><FONT SIZE="-1" COLOR="#33FFFF"> </FONT></U><BR></PRE> 82<!----/ASCII Navigation--------> 83 84<BR> 85<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#666666">SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation.</FONT> 86<BR> 87 88 89 90<!-- Client Side Maps here --> <MAP NAME="nav"> 91 <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="39,127,226,148" HREF="ci_hf.htm" ALT="Hormel Foods"> 92 <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="148,0,226,42" HREF="/index.htm" ALT="Home"> 93</MAP> <MAP NAME="ci"> 94 <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="0,0,231,34" HREF="/ci.htm" ALT="Corporate Info"> 95</MAP> 96 97</CENTER> 98</BODY> 99</HTML> 100
