经济学人58:商标欺诈 闭上你的臭嘴

 　　Business

　　商业

　　Trademark¹ bullying²

　　商标欺诈

　　Shut your kale-hole

　　闭上你的臭嘴

　　What's in a name, anyway?

　　无论如何，商标中能有什么呢？

　　CHICK-FIL-A sells an average of nine sandwiches per second at its roughly 1,600 restaurants.

　　托莱多的约1600家餐厅每秒平均卖出9个三明治。

　　Bo Muller-Moore paints T-shirts in the garage next to his house in Montpelier, Vermont.

　　家在蒙彼利埃（美国佛蒙特州首府）的Bo Muller-Moore在其车库里染印T恤衫。

　　In 2011 Chick-fil-A's sales were more than $4 billion; Mr Muller-Moore (pictured) estimates that his were $40,000.

　　托莱多2001年的销售额超过40亿美元；而Muller-Moore估计其销售额仅有40000美元。

　　Nonetheless, the slogan screened on his shirts-"Eat More Kale", initially³ made in 2001 as a favour for a local farmer, whose kale crop had a bumper⁴ year-caught the humourless eyes of Chick-fil-A's lawyers.

　　尽管如此， Muller-Moore染印在T恤衫上的短语"Eat More Kale"还是为托莱多无趣的律师们所关注。

　　They had sent him a cease-and-desist letter in 2006, claiming his slogan was too close to their client's "Eat Mor Chikin".

　　他们向Muller-Moore发出了"勒令停止通知函"，声称Muller-Moore的宣传语同托莱多的宣传语"Eat Mor Chikin"意思太相近。

　　Really?

　　事实真是如此吗?

　　The letter does not cite a single person whom the slogan has confused.

　　信函并未列举出任何一个为此宣传语—Eat More Kale所误导的人。

　　Besides, one entity⁵ sells food, the other clothing; only the profoundly stoned or deranged⁶ would try to eat a T-shirt or wear a chicken sandwich.

　　此外，他们一个是卖快餐的，另一个是卖衣服的；只有那些酩酊大醉、精神错乱的人才会吃T恤衫或者穿鸡肉三明治。

　　But Mr Muller-Moore is not the only small entrepreneur to have caught the attention of a big firm's trademark hawks⁷.

　　然而，Muller-Moore先生并非唯一一个受到大型企业商标权恐吓的私营业主。

　　In 2009 the company that makes Monster energy drinks demanded that Vermont's Rock Art Brewery⁸ stop calling its barley⁹ wine "Vermonster".

　　在2009年，生产怪物能量饮料的公司要求福蒙特州的啤酒厂Rock Art停止使用"Vermonster"作为其高酒精啤酒的名称。

　　Last year Tootsie Roll Industries, which makes chewy sweets, filed suit against the maker¹⁰ of a roll-up shoe called Footzyrolls.

　　去年，生产咀嚼软糖的小脚趾圈公司对生产roll-up shoe的厂商Footzyrolls提起诉讼。

　　And in 2009 The North Face, an outdoor-clothing company, sued a much smaller clothing company that had decided¹¹ to call itself The South Butt¹².

　　在2009年，户外服装公司The North Face对一个非常小的服装公司提起诉讼，因为其自称The South Butt。

　　Chick-fil-A insists it has to protect its trademark.

　　托莱多声称要坚决保护它的商标。

　　But its idea of self-defence looks to others like bullying.

　　然而，这一行为对于其他人来说更像恐吓、威胁。

　　The firm is protecting its trademark not from a crafty¹³ restaurateur hoping to piggyback on its fame, but from a kale farmer and a "Neolithic¹⁴ stencil-artist" in Vermont.

　　它所谓的商标侵权者不是借其名声的狡猾的餐馆老板，而是风蒙特州的一个种植羽衣甘蓝的农民和一个民间模板艺术家。

　　Also, Chick-fil-A seems to be claiming ownership of the phrase "eat more", which is a bit greedy.

　　而且，托莱多似乎宣称其是"eat more"词组的所有者。这一行为显得太贪婪了。

　　Mr Muller-Moore is fighting back. He has taken his campaign to Facebook and Kickstarter, where he and a co-producer are trying to raise funds for a documentary called "A Defiant¹⁵ Dude".

　　Muller-Moore先生对托莱多的起诉予以回击。他同其合伙人在Facebook和Kickstarter试图为一个名为"野蛮的家伙"的纪录片募集资金。

　　Rock Art Brewery similarly defended itself, not in a court of law, where deep-pocketed corporations enjoy an enormous advantage, but in the court of public opinion.

　　Rock Art啤酒厂同样予以反击，不是在"自古衙门朝南开，有理无钱莫进来"的法庭，而是在公众舆论的平台。

　　It worked.

　　这一方式奏效了。

　　After boycotts¹⁶ and negative publicity¹⁷, Monster's makers¹⁸ agreed to drop the matter provided that Rock Art did not start making energy drinks.

　　在收到抵制和负面的名声影响后，怪物饮料生产商同意撤销诉讼，条件是Rock Art不在生产能量饮料。

　　Mr Muller-Moore claims to have received thousands of supportive letters.

　　Muller-Moore先生声称收到了无数的声援信。

　　Hundreds of people have pledged to fund his film.

　　许多人对其给予了资金援助。

　　Chick-fil-A may end up eating more crow.

　　托莱多最终可能会以失败告终。

1 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

2 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

5 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

6 deranged   

adj.疯狂的

参考例句：

• Traffic was stopped by a deranged man shouting at the sky.一名狂叫的疯子阻塞了交通。
• A deranged man shot and killed 14 people.一个精神失常的男子开枪打死了14人。

7 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。

8 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

9 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

10 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

13 crafty   

adj.狡猾的，诡诈的

参考例句：

• He admired the old man for his crafty plan.他敬佩老者的神机妙算。
• He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家，也是个狡黠的独裁者。

14 neolithic   

adj.新石器时代的

参考例句：

• Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
• The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。

15 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

16 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

17 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

18 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》