Dell expected to lose 'cloud computing' trademark bid
Published: 11 Aug 2008 09:18 BST
The US Patent and Trademark Office has backtracked on an earlier move to grant Dell trademark rights to the term 'cloud computing'.
Dell received a preliminary notice on 8 July saying the company could have the trademark, but the notice was withdrawn on Thursday.
Dell spokesman Jeff Blackburn said the company could not speculate on the likelihood of the trademark being eventually approved. "We are waiting just for the decision," he said.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) declined to comment on the specifics of Dell's application, but Cynthia Lynch, a PTO administrator for trademark policy and procedure, said the notification was an indication that her employer will deny a trademark or offer an "explanation of what [problems] were identified and give the applicant a chance to respond".
Lynch said that the process usually takes a few weeks, adding that "it's not unheard of, but it's definitely unusual" for a so-called 'notice of allowance' for a trademark to be cancelled.
Dell's attempt to trademark the term has caused rancour among others involved in cloud computing, including Jon Brody, vice president of marketing for TriCipher.
"I'm surprised and disappointed," said Brody, whose company provides a unified authentication infrastructure for software-as-a-service customers and providers.
"Vendors need to name their products — there's no question about that — and there is, unfortunately, product-specific taxonomy. But broad terms like 'cloud computing' — those are canvasses that we should all be able to paint our piece of the mural on," said Brody.
Blackburn explained that, when Dell applied for the trademark on 23 March, 2007, the company had just announced its Cloud Computing Solutions, which now bears a trademark symbol.
"The application was to protect the use of the term 'cloud computing' as it relates specifically to our offering," Blackburn said. "At the time when we announced our solution, it was not quite as pervasive a term. We sought to protect our intellectual property, and we certainly respect the intellectual property of other people and would not infringe on that of others."
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Dell's definition of the term 'cloud computing' includes the "design of computer hardware for use in datacentres and mega-scale computing environments for others" and "consulting services for datacentres and mega-scale computing environments in the fields of design, selection, implementation, customisation and use of computer hardware and software systems for others".
Trademarking the term could impact on the rapidly growing market. Analyst house Gartner reported in October of last year that software-as-a-service uptake is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 22.1 percent until 2011 for the enterprise application software markets — more than double the growth rate for enterprise software in total.
"If you have a federal registration, it gives you some legal presumptions and benefits you don't have otherwise," Lynch said. "You're presumed the nationwide, exclusive owner of the goods that you have marks registered for."
Though the trademark refers to the term itself and not to the underlying technology, Dell's registration would still impact on TriCipher, Brody said.
"We're an enabler for the cloud-computing businesses, so we'd have a hard time talking about the space we're in and the specific product we deliver," he said.
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