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Comment by hrktb | Hacker News Reader

I'd be with you if there was any kind of consensus on this.

For instance GIF's creator clarifying the pronounciation of his file format was mostly met with a mild middle finger. Is the Lego company meriting more bending backwards than him ?

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It's basically the same treatment that any company wants: "Kleenex tissues", "Google searches", "Band-Aid bandages", "LEGO bricks", etc. This is for trademark reasons, because not vigorously defending the 'proper' use of the term can lead it to becoming genericized and usable by anyone. For an example of this happening in practice, "aspirin" was originally a Bayer trademark that was lost through genericization.

Okay but why should we afford that consideration to any company at all? They’re supposed to provide something of value. They’re not human beings with corporeal needs. Bayer seems to be doing just fine.

> Okay but why should we afford that consideration to any company at all?

Why not afford it to them?

If someone asks you nicely to do something because it's important to them and it costs you nothing why not do it?

They’re not someone. Asking humans to change their behavior because a brand asks to be represented in an unusual way is asking for free marketing.

> NEVER add a possessive “s”, plural “s” or hyphen, e.g. LEGO’s design, more LEGOs to play with, LEGO-bricks.

reference: https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/legal/assets/blt1a4c9a959ce8e1cb...

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