Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: Merry Christmas

  • Christmas, Santa, and Letters

    Christmas, Santa, and Letters

    Many children around the world who celebrate Christmas wake up to presents from Santa on Christmas Day. Some children visited Santa at the mall before Christmas to tell him about the gifts they wanted. Some children write to Santa about their Christmas wishes.

    The tradition of writing letters to Santa has a long history that has evolved over time. At first, the letters weren’t about getting toys. Over a century ago, Santa was writing letters of advice to children. He would comment on their past behavior over the year and how they could improve for the coming year! Santa (well, the parents) would leave these letters near the fireplace.

    As it became more common to buy stamps in the 1860s, American children sent letters to Santa at the North Pole, where they believed he lived and worked. The tradition evolved to what it is today: children ask for toys they would like to see under the tree at Christmas.

    In Canada, children can write to Santa and get a reply! For over 40 years, the elves at Canada Post sort all the mail that children have written to Santa. If they write a letter using the postal code HOH OHO, children can send the letter for free to the North Pole where Santa lives. Thousands of Canada Post volunteers help Santa to reply to all letters in the language that the letter was written in, including braille.

    Websites such as emailsanta.com make the writing process easy for those who want to write a letter to Santa. You choose a stamp, go to a webpage with the skeletal structure of a letter, and fill in all the blanks. And just like that, presto, your letter to Santa is complete! You will also instantly get an answer.

    Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

  • Could You Be Sued for Saying a Common Word or Phrase?

    Could You Be Sued for Saying a Common Word or Phrase?

    Do you have a favorite phrase that you like to say a lot? Now imagine liking your favorite phrase so much that you would want to prevent other people from using your preferred words by trademarking those words!

    Celebrities and companies have trademarked words and expressions that you’ve heard in movies and advertisements. Some of these words are so common that you might wonder if you could get in trouble with the law for innocently saying an everyday word or phrase.

    Interestingly, it is possible to trademark commonly used words and phrases, such as apple. Apple, the company, can’t trademark “apple” if they’re selling fruit products. But they are selling devices such as computers and phones, not edible products related to fruit. 

    Similarly, you can’t trademark the word “pencil” if you want to sell pencil products. But you could trademark “pencil” if you wanted to sell, for example, sofas or gardening tools under the name “pencil.” For more on trademarking common words, check out this post.

    You might be surprised that an expression as common as “Merry Christmas” is trademarked. With Christmas around the corner, you might wonder if you, as a business owner, can write “Merry Christmas” on your custom-designed T-shirt that you’re selling on Etsy. Or if you can write Merry Christmas on the homemade card you’re going to give to your family.

    Fortunately, you can write “Merry Christmas” on the products that you are making because you’re wishing someone a certain feeling. However, you can’t use “Merry Christmas” on certain food products, decorations, cigar products, and types of clothes… if you’re using them as a type of trademark for your business.

    So you don’t have to worry about infringing trademarks on common, everyday words unless you’re thinking of creating and marketing a product using a trademarked word or phrase. 

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