Where Are They Now? The Mercenaries Formerly Known As Blackwater Edition

Blackwater's stock hasn't been rising. The company's come under fire for firing on Iraqi civilians, and both Iraq and the State Department planted a judicious boot up their arses. What's a band of murderous mercenaries to do but change their name? Because, like Cons, Blackwater - um, excuse me, Xe - thinks it's all about branding rather than the product.

They maybe shoulda researched the name first:

Over at my home blog of Mercury Rising, one of my co-bloggers, MEC, noticed something a wee bit interesting about Blackwater's name change (and, they apparently hoped, reputation change) to "Xe" -- namely, that there's already an "XE" out there and they care about their copyright:

"XE”, “XE.COM”, “UNIVERSAL CURRENCY CONVERTER”, the XE logo, the spinning currency logo, and other identifying marks of XE are and shall remain the trade-marks and trade names and exclusive property of XE CORPORATION, and any unauthorized use of these marks is unlawful.

Deary, deary me. Looks like the corporate lawyers shall be rolling up their sleeves and deploying the cease-and-desist letters. And in a battle between an army of lawyers and an army of mercs, I know who my money's on.

If anyone wants to float some potential names for Blackwater now they've lost their first choice, I'll be happy to pass them along.