For the ‘Grey Cardigans’out there on the subbing desk, getting the correct reporting of trademarks is simply a matter of grammatical accuracy.

But for the big corporations that rely on the strength of their brand, or brands, to survive it is a multimillion-pound business.

Put simply, if the world starts referring to vacuum cleaning devices as hoovers, then the huge domestic appliance company which goes by that name has a big problem, because it becomes a generic title and anyone can start sticking that word on their products. The same goes for Portakabin, Kleenex, Band-Aid and a host of other brand names.