Just wanted to shed some light on the legal angle of why Sandy and her corporate taskmasters are so persnickety about who uses the VISA trademark.

The trademark email Sandy sent (as directed by her general counsel no doubt) is one required by law. It sounds stupid, but the law puts the onus on companies to defend their trademark if the trademark is to remain valid. If a company permitted any entity other than the itself (the company which uses the trademark in business) outside of certain protected uses (parody, etc.) then it leaves itself vulnerable to legal battles which can end up making the trademark lose its protection under the law. So you can kind of see why VISA was antsy.

Trademarks are very vulnerable that way. Trademarks are meant to be source identifiers, which means they identify the provider of a good or service. This serves the important goal of making sure an Apple iPod is really and truly a quality product made by Apple and not some knock-off piece of garbage made in China. So consumer protection from confusion is part of it.

In this case, bloggers aren’t making a penny off the commentary here, so a case could be made to allow the use of VISA’s trademark. However, don’t expect companies to quit being zealous and exclusive over who gets to swing their trademark around…

“Qualifying Purchases” usually means don’t go buying Burger King, Taco Bell and edible panties at Felicities House of Marital Aids and expect to get the WoW credits.

J1, I think you’d just accumulate free months rather than have a cap on it, though I’ve not looked at the terms for the card.

As far as being harassed by Visa, really, it wasn’t that big a deal.

This sort of baseless legal harrassment is really beginning to be a pain in the ass for bloggers and other low resource internet content producers. I’m pretty sure that they would’ve lost this case in court, as this isn’t a copyright infringement and trademark laws concern making money with someone elses trademarks, something which Les clearly wasn’t doing.

Maybe bloggers should organize a union and use the union fees as an insurance to cover costs of litigations and take these assholes to court and put an end to this bullying!

I have vented my spleen further at My barracks. Perhaps you can change the logo like they did at MAKE:  My suggestion is the (fictional) company of WeAreABunchOfMoneyGrabbingBastardsWhoChargeSmall RetailersFarMoreThanTheBigOnesThusTiltingThePlaying FieldFurtherIntoTheHandsOfBigBusiness

I’ve recently been trying to move to using a CC for all of my major monthly expenses, but not to get WoW credit.  Instead, we’re using a uPromise card that rewards with money toward my daughter’s education.  We get 1% back on all purchases and up to 10% back on uPromise purchases.  By making my utility, mortgage and car payments on the CC rather than by check (and then immediately sending a check for the balance to the CC) I’ve been able to rack up a decent sun in just 6 months.  It is pretty scary to see those CC statements every month though…

I need to you to remove that [trademark] card image that you posted on your blog.

You need a new tag- WHY BIG BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW THE FUCK UP.

I am getting sick fucking tired of whiney companies throwing their weight around every time someone mentions their product.  WHICH BIT OF FREE ADVERTISING DO WE NEED TO POUND INTO YOUR POINTY LITTLE HEADS.

If anything your mock up raised brand awareness of [trademark] (I’m assuming there was nothing derogatory in the mock up).  All this has done is make me angry at the company involved.

(sorry for the effing, I’m just sooooooooooooo angry)

The “You’d have to buy $1500/month in stuff to cover the cost” argument is a legitimate question.

The issue has a flipside.

I put everything on to my credit card, so my bill is usually significantly higher than $1500/month. As such, with this card, I’d have my monthly fee paid for, and then what do I do with the leftover credit?

I’ll stick to getting my 1% return on a card that gives me gasoline, gift certificates for stores I regularly use, or better yet—cash. Anything which doesn’t have an effective monthly cap.

Hmm… doesn’t seem worth getting a new card, though I have been looking for ways to out myself as a nerd with every general goods purchase.