George Eastman
constructed the Kodak name with care. He is quoted as saying that;
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"The
letter K has been a favorite with me - it seems a strong, incisive
sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number
of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending
with 'K'. The word 'Kodak' is the result."
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However
it is his comments to the British Patent Office, when registering
Kodak as a trademark, that are most illuminating:
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"This
is not a foreign name or word; it was constructed by me to serve
a definite purpose. It has the following merits as a trade-mark
word: first it is short; second, it is not capable of mispronunciation;
third, it does not resemble anything in the art and cannot be associated
with anything in the art".
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| Trademark protection is just
as important today as it was in George Eastman's time, perhaps more
so. And after more than 100 years his words still spell out some
of the fundamental principles for anyone wanting to register a brand
name as a trademark. |
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