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Dell Tries To Trademark "Cloud Computing"

Posted by kdawson on from the head-in-the-clouds-or-perhaps-some-other-orifice dept.

Ian Lamont writes "The Industry Standard reports that Dell is trying to trademark the term cloud computing . The phrase entered the tech lexicon years ago, but Dell's application (serial number 77139082) was made in early 2007 to the US Patent and Trademark Office, apparently in connection with data center products and services that it was promoting around that time. A quick search of Google News indicates that Dell itself did not use the term in press releases or discussions with indexed English-language media sources from 1996 to 2006. Dell is not the first company to attempt to trademark this term: The Standard notes that NetCentric, a company that provided 'carrier-class Internet fax technology,' also gave it a shot in the late 1990s, but was rejected."

9 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. New coin term: trademark troll by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And here I thought that only happened with patents.

    1. Re:New coin term: trademark troll by StreetStealth · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The obviousness of some of the colloquial expressions protected under trademark in the US is sometimes quite surprising. Dish soap marketers, for instance, must be careful in how they describe the effective concentration of their product, because "a little goes a long way(tm)" is a trademark of P&G group.

      --
      Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
  2. Not only sneaky morals, but... by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cloudy thinking by Dell.

  3. Where was this article in July? by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

    The first comment to the article links to the USPTO page for the applicatoin where the status shows that the opposition period went by without anybody noticing, so the mark is one step closer to being validated. It appears only the dependable USPTO is left to block this thing on its own.

  4. Cloud opportunity by darealpat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was struck by the comment at the end of the article by a trademark attorney that no-one had opposed it when it was initially published. I think that points to a fundamental flaw in the process: who knows of or sees these things in order to oppose them?

    Perhaps that is the clouded thinking that permeates the USPTO and the tech entities that use them to further their cause.

    --
    For every present, there is a past
  5. USPTO record by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the U.S. Patent and Trademark listing: CLOUD COMPUTING

  6. I say let them have it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... if it means nobody else will be able to say "cloud computing" anymore I am all for it. Now it someone would have been able to trademark Web 2.0 life would be good.

  7. Re:Why not? by PitaBred · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except that the "window" was a concept that was known to many OS's before Microsoft got ahold of it. Same case here with Cloud Computing. You should not be able to trademark a name of a generic concept or practice.

    --
    My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  8. The trademark has been allowed. by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative

    A Notice of Allowance was issued on July 8. Examination is over. Nobody objected during the objection period. So Dell owns "CLOUD COMPUTING" as a trademark. The remaining processing is just paperwork - publication in the Official Gazette, and printing and mailing the trademark certificate to Dell.