Cloud Computing: Not a Trademark?

by Mike Gunderloy - Aug. 18, 2008Comments (2)

It turns out that there may be a happy (from the open point of view) ending to Dell's attempt to trademark "cloud computing," which we covered two weeks ago. Whether it was all the publicity that the Patent & Trademark Office's original decision got, or whether someone there simply took a second look at things and understood the issues, it appears that they're on the way to denying the application after all.

Dell told CNET that their original application was made at a time when the use of "cloud computing" as a generic term was not so pervasive, and that they were only trying to protect their own branding.

Dell still has a chance to try to fix up the application, but the letter from the USPTO attorney makes it clear that they would have to put some much tighter limits on what they're asking for in order to get it. Among the examining attorney's findings:

Registration is refused because the applied-for mark merely describes a feature and characteristic of applicant's services....As shown in the attached Internet and LEXISNEXIS® evidence, CLOUD COMPUTING is a descriptive term of art in the relevant industry...In addition to being merely descriptive, the applied-for mark appears to be generic in connection with the identified services...

The bottom line: it looks fairly well-assured at this point that open source projects, and others, will safely be able to use the term "cloud computing" to identify themselves without fear of trademark issues.