McCartney (TM)

Jim McCabe hits us with an email, which is always a delight. He brings to our attentions plans by Paul McCartney to trademark his name. And not just as a provider of anecdotes about the 1960s and supplier of songs about frogs:

The application was made by McCartney's company, MPL Communications, and if successful will give him the exclusive right to use the name McCartney on clothing, footwear and headgear. It specifies such disparate items as bath robes, articles of fancy dress, overalls, sports clothing and swimwear. But the scope of the application means that the vegetarian musician would also have the right to lend his name to products he is thought to loathe, such as meat and poultry.

A spokesman for McCartney said the inclusion of meat products was purely defensive. "It would give him protection against his name being used on products he does not approve of," he said.

Mind you, Linda would probably have been aghast at the McCartney "brand" being adopted by Heather Mills, as well. That could, of course, be what all this is about - maybe he's afraid Heather was planning her revenge by launching a load of McCartney Brand topless bikini items.

Jim observes that "the phrase, "Macca's Meat Pies" has a certain "something"?", which is true. And we can picture a small logo underwriting the quality: "You can tell it's good, if it's got my thumbs aloft."

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