Kottke, a 25-year-old Minneapolis Web designer, says the company ``tried to draw a parallel, but it came across clumsily and instead looked like: Sex Sells.'' And so, for fun, Kottke launched an online spoof, ``Simply Porn,'' a takeoff featuring images of women taken from various Web sites that are embellished with, shall we say, strategically placed Palm V devices.

Unfortunately, 3Com didn't share Kottke's sense of humor and brought his effort to the attention of company attorneys. They quickly noticed that he had republished images and trademarks from their ad, including the Palm V computer and icons on it,without permission. They placed what Kottke describes as a ``friendly call'' to request that he remove the copyrighted materials from his Web page. He complied, deleting the spoof from his Web site. ``Better safe than sorry,'' says Kottke, adding that he doesn't have the money for a court fight.

The ``Simply Palm'' campaign was designed to break through the advertising clutter, say 3Com officials. ``It has done that job,'' says Elizabeth Brooking, director of marketing communications at Palm Computing, the 3Com subsidiary that placed the ad. Brooking says the company was trying to ``draw a relationship between simplicity and success. Our campaign, which uses human form as a design element, draws attention to similarities of successful individuals and the Palm V,'' she says.

Kottke says that is a bit of a stretch. He says he got a lot of positive feedback from his spoof-as well as comments berating him for caving in to 3Com's corporate muscle. The Web designer says he's researching the legality of thecopyright-infringement issue. ``Maybe I was in the right after all,'' he says. ``I may put the images back up, but I don't know when.'' Meanwhile, even Brooking concedes the company's message may be getting lost in the medium. ``Some parents have called to request explanations they can give their children,'' she says.

The Asian Wall Street Journal