• Shades of Spam Arrest

    by  • May 29, 2009 • trademark

    Here’s an interesting story on the derivation of the word “tabloid” for a newspaper. It’s a trademark registered in the United Kingdom in 1884 for compressed medicines, a portmanteau of “tablet” and “ovoid.”



    The use of the mark was later expanded to tea,

    first aid kits,

    snake bite kits,


    photographic chemicals,


    and other goods. Burroughs Wellcome fought a battle with newspaper publishers over their use of the word, one we now know it ultimately lost.

    © 2009 Pamela Chestek

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