birdseed legal? slang

[h***@gmail.com]

Hi I would like to know what the word birdseed means in this context:
A company is looking for an assistant and his/her responsibilities
include:

"Responsible for ensuring 100% accuracy of submissions to Legal
including all relevant trademarks/birdseed etc."

Another hint: the word "birdseed" appears before the legal notice
(copyrights) section of the same company's document

[Pat Durkin]

Post by h***@gmail.com
A company is looking for an assistant and his/her responsibilities
"Responsible for ensuring 100% accuracy of submissions to Legal
including all relevant trademarks/birdseed etc."
Another hint: the word "birdseed" appears before the legal notice
(copyrights) section of the same company's document

What does the company do?

I found one website (on the bottom of the first Google search results page)
that used "birdseed" in the same way I would use "boilerplate". That is,
detailed and routinely required legal verbiage, which can be saved in a
word-processor for insertion at appropriate places in various documents.
Of course, someone has to examine the boilerplate now and then, to make sure
the various iterations are up-to-date.

Don't know if this helps. I am not very proficient in Google. I tried to
do a "-hemp" but then "birdseed+legal-hemp" brought up "legal hemp". Must
have done something wrong.

[h***@gmail.com]

Thanks for the quick reply

In fact I haven't heard about "boilerplate" before, either, but it
seems very likely that you are right.
Thanks again

[Spehro Pefhany]

Post by h***@gmail.com
Thanks for the quick reply
In fact I haven't heard about "boilerplate" before, either, but it
seems very likely that you are right.
Thanks again

The only references I can easily find on Google are from Dell in
Malaysia. Could "birdseed" be a literal translation of a Malay or
Chinese legal term?


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

[h***@gmail.com]

No, but you were close to the target. In fact what I was asking was
found in a document relating to Dell's Hungarian subsidiary and there
is no such thing in Hungarian legal language that resembles "birdseed"
:-))

[Peter Duncanson]

Post by h***@gmail.com
A company is looking for an assistant and his/her responsibilities
"Responsible for ensuring 100% accuracy of submissions to Legal
including all relevant trademarks/birdseed etc."
Another hint: the word "birdseed" appears before the legal notice
(copyrights) section of the same company's document

I have found two uses of "birdseed" which might be relevant.

http://www.small-business-forum.com/articles/7.html
<quote>
Attract Clients

Attracting Clients With Ease
...
There is a way to reverse the sales process. Imagine, if you will, a
situation where instead of having to go out and chase new business,
qualified buyers are seeking out YOUR expertise. Imagine putting your
marketing efforts on 'automatic pilot' so the right work turns up as and
when you need it. Imagine being able to pick and choose which projects
you want to work on. Can you imagine having the confidence to turn down
work that doesn’t meet YOUR criteria?

Here’s a metaphor that nicely sums up this approach. Imagine two boys in
a garden. Both of them want to catch birds. One of them is frantically
chasing after birds; the other just stands still holding out birdseed in
his hand and waits. Instinctively, most of us recognise that the second
boy will be more successful. Yet most sales techniques used by
businesses today involve some form of ‘chasing’ with the net result that
prospective clients are scared away. In this article you will discover
how the birdseed approach can help you attract rather than chase
clients, and even get them eating out of your hands!
...
Once you have your article written, you could offer this free report by
placing a message or short ad in a place where your target clients
congregate. I call this a magnet – something which provokes prospective
clients to raise their hands and say, ‘I’m interested!’ By requesting
your report, responders indicate that they are interested in this topic.

Now, not everyone who requests your report will be a hot prospect, but
there will be some potential clients within this group. The free report
would just be the starting point of your relationship. From this point
you could offer more ‘birdseed’ each time demonstrating your credibility
in this subject area, up until the point when the prospect asks, ‘can
you help me’, or a one-to-one conversation is necessary.
...
© Bernadette Doyle, 2004.
</quote>

The following document specifies Branding Guidelines (typographic and
other styles) for material relating to the MicronPC. I've included
plenty of surrounding text to put the "birdseed" instances in context.
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/guidelines/MicronPC.pdf
<quote>
General Configuration Style.
• Capitalization:
- First letter of spec line if spec begins with a word
- All product names
• Generic descriptors are not capitalized [hard drive, display]
• Trademark symbols on first mention of Intel and Microsoft trade names
• Inches are prime quotes [17", not 17”]
• No space or hyphen between number and unit [32MB, 4GB exceptions:
128-bit, 7200 rpm]
• Uppercase X used to indicate CD, DVD speed [6X DVD-ROM, 40X CD-ROM]
• Lowercase x used to indicate multiples [7x24, 3x4GB]

General Copy Style.
• Spell out inch and pound measurements [1.5 inches thick, 14.1-inch
display, 6.1 pounds]
• Omit cents from even dollar amounts [$94, not $94.00]
• Omit commas from sub-$10,000 prices [$2495, not $2,495]
• Trademark symbols on first mention of Intel and Microsoft trade names

General Birdseed Style.
• All personal lease birdseed should be in 8-point type on 8 points lead
• All other birdseed should be in 6-point type, except in NY Times,
which should be 8/8

Trademark Usage Rules.
• Mark first appearance in configurations with appropriate symbol
• Mark first appearance in copy of all Intel and Microsoft marks
• No trademark symbols in copy head (except as requested by client)
[NOTE: There are exceptions, subject to Client’s request.]
• Always use trademarks as adjectives followed by a generic noun
[Example: "Our new ClientPro desktops," not "our new ClientPro"]
• Never pluralize, abbreviate or split up
</quote>

From these two examples I infer that birdseed is any printed material
used to attract the attention and interest of potential buyers of a
product. A company will have clear rules on the typography and format of
such material. The word "birdseed" also seems to be used to refer to the
standard design of such material.