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Excel Registered as Trademark, 19 Years Late

Posted by timothy on from the trademarks-are-dead dept.

unassimilatible writes "In a snafu even better than forgetting to renew the Hotmail.com domain, it seems that Microsoft was a little late in registering 'Excel' as a trademark - 19 years late, to be exact. While MS claims it is protected by the common law of trademark, it may have abandoned the right to enforce the mark, as Savvysoft has been using the mark openly and conspicuously with TurboExcel for some time. TurboExcel, of course, runs on Linux, and MS just sent Savvysoft a cease-and-desist letter to stop using the mark. Apparently, 'Word' and 'Office' are also not registered marks of MS, but being generic terms, MS might have a lot more trouble trying to claim them as marks, as happened in the Lindows kerfuffle."

8 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Excel is a real word too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They made a point of saying that Word and Office are generic terms, but so is excel! It's a perfectly normal word too, so why is it different when it comes to trademarking??

    1. Re:Excel is a real word too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      why is it different when it comes to trademarking??

      The government determines this using a complicated formula which involves how frequently the word is used in the language, how many points it's worth in Scrabble, the would-be trademark holder's political contribution budget, and whether or not George W. Bush is able to pronounce the word correctly.

    2. Re:Excel is a real word too! by krymsin01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So is Gateway. I'd like to see you try to start selling your own Gateway branded computers, though.

      --
      stuff
  2. Too Late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I start shipping my specially branded "Excel toilet paper" next week.

  3. Re:Jurisdictional shopping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Talking about ignorance... it is a matter of fact that you can have a perfectly valid trademark without ever registering it. It is sufficient to use the mark in your trade, and registering only helps in resolving disputes.

  4. This isn't right.... by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...I remember that someone else had that trademark "Excel" back then and that's why it was always "Microsoft Excel" never just "Excel." It wasn't that MS was sloppy; someone already had it.

  5. I'd be careful... by spdt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft has been doing that for 19 years.

  6. ... and don't forget by server_wench · · Score: 5, Funny

    What about Access?

    I used to sit at a help desk. One morning someone called and said they were having a problem with Microsoft Excess.

    My answer? "Don't we all?"

    PS - It did turn out to be an Excel question.