GERMANY: A German company has dropped plans to register the trademark "Zyklon", a name linked to the Zyklon B poison gas used in Nazi extermination camps such as Auschwitz.
Bosch Siemens Hausgeraete (BSH) said it had withdrawn two applications to register the name with US patent and trademark authorities "because of the fuss that has arisen". A spokeswoman, Ms Eva Delabre, said it had never been the company's intention to draw any link to Zyklon B and apologised if it had caused upset.
BSH, jointly owned by the electronics groups Bosch and Siemens, makes household goods.
Zyklon B was a commercial form of hydrocyanic acid which became active on contact with air. It was one of the main methods used in the extermination of millions of people, mainly Jews, during the second World War.
The word Zyklon itself means cyclone in German, and its connotation in the household goods industry has more to do with vacuum cleaners than gas.
Ms Delabre said that BSH's applications to register the names X-Zyklon and Mixed-Zyklon were "withdrawn by us immediately, today".
"The name Zyklon alone was not applied for by us. We have no products in the US under Zyklon and have no intention to do so.
"There was no intention to make any connection to Zyklon B." Two years ago, Germany set up a $4.5 billion compensation fund for slave labourers under the Nazi regime.
Half of the fund comes from the German government, the rest from industry, such as Siemens and Bosch.
Last week, British sportswear manufacturer Umbro said it had dropped Zyklon as the name for one of its running shoes. - (AFP)