How short the memory is… News.com has published a story saying that Microsoft has finally filed for trademark registration on Excel, 19 years late. The author tries to make it into a story about big bad Microsoft bullying little Savvysoft, but really it’s a much more sophisticated strategy than that.
If you think back to Windows, the company unsuccessfully tried to gain a trademark for the term windows several times during the 1980s. It was not until 1994 that the US PTO accepted their argument (US trademark registration #1959130 if you want to see the actual filing) that in the public’s eyes the term Windows, as applied to computer software, meant Microsoft. In common law, when a term "becomes associated in the mind of the public with the particular good or service," a trademark exists.
Up until that point in 1994, whenever we spoke about Windows, or wrote about Windows, we had to use the official handle — Microsoft® Windowstm. After that point, we could simply say — Windows®. Windows was just Windows, and anyone who tried to use Windows in their product name, without kissing the ring, could be held to account. Many companies received cease-and-desist letters as a result.
It’s a very clever, and long term trademark strategy. Not only does the use of a common English term have more power than a coined name might, it also has the power to infect anyone who uses a synonym. And think for a moment about the audacity of claiming a commonly used word from the English language as your own. It’s the ultimate "domain name" squat.
Excel is obviously next. Then… Office? Word?
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
