The Hormel company, makers of the potted meat product known as 'Spam', and, indeed, inventors of the word "spam" decades before Al Gore even invented the Internet, let alone email, has decided that enough is enough, and that it's time to reclaim their brand.

Their offensive includes a series of advertisements in the United Kingdom, home to those wacky people who actually consider Spam food.

But some of their actions have been far more serious, including suing those who have used their trademark without permission.

While the giant food company has typically looked the other way at those using the word in all lowercase ("spam"), they have been much touchier about exact replicas of the product name ("Spam" and "SPAM").  Last year, in fact, Hormel sued SpamArrest for trademark infringement.  SpamArrest's CEO, Brian Cartmell, for his part declared that "Hormel is acting like a corporate cry baby."

The problem is, of course, that you can only be so lenient, and then you lose your trademark, so if Hormel hopes to retain their trademark, and revive their market, they need to take action.  Which is exactly what they are doing.