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Technology Stocks : Cloud, edge and decentralized computing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (163)	8/18/2008 1:21:39 PM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (7) \| Respond to of 1685

Dell's request for a trademark on "cloud computing" has been denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: ...US trademark wonks have declared cloud computing a “generic” term because its “‘incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for applicant’s services’. Dell cloud computing™ denied Why does it always rain on me By Kelly Fiveash Published Monday 18th August 2008 13:21 GMT The computer giant had filed an application to trademark the phrase with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in March 2007. However, according to blogger Sam Johnston, Dell’s application was officially rejected by the USPTO late last week. In July the firm was told its request had reached the so-called “notice of allowance”. Passing the "allowance" step in the trademark process had meant that opponents could no longer object to Dell's claims. At that point Dell might have been forgiven for thinking it was close to trademarking the cloud computing term. Then, just last week, the company’s attempt looked to have been scuppered by officials at the USPTO who had an apparent change of heart on the application. It decided to cancel its "notice of allowance" on the Round Rock computer vendor's attempt to master the popular IT buzzword, and instead returned Dell's trademark application to show the case had "returned to examination". Now Dell has been officially denied by the USPTO. Johnston wrote that US trademark wonks have declared cloud computing a “generic” term because its “‘incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for applicant’s services’. This makes sense given that few of us think 'Dell' when we think of 'cloud computing', even in this context.” Unfortunately, that decision does suggest the catch-all term will now continue to spread like wildfire among vendors keen to wrap their SaaS offerings in something fluffy. ® theregister.co.uk