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As we covered previously, Dell was trying to trademark the term ‘cloud computer’ and had filed the necessary paperwork with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The application had reached the Notice of Allowance phase where they receive a written notification that a mark has survived the opposition period and that other parties have had a chance to object to the application.
In a ruling posted on the trademark office’s web site on Aug. 12th, they rejected Dell’s application to trademark the term cloud computing, backing away from a final official recognition of Dell’s application.
The trademark office’s findings said, "In addition to being merely descriptive, the applied-for mark appears to be generic in connection with the identified services and, therefore, incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for applicant’s services”. This leaves everyone in the IT field saying, “Well, duh!”
Links:
[1] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/haipyng
[2] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dell_trying_trademark_cloud_computing
[3] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/daily_news_brief_dell_not_dropping_xps_line_after_all
[4] http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/rambus_patent_troll_seeks_strike_nvidia
[5] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/cloud_computing
[6] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/dell
[7] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/law
[8] http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/trademark
[9] http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/news
[10] http://www.maximumpc.com/user/login?&commentfragment=comments_top_anchor