Fergie's Tech Blog

Please Cease-and-Desist From Using 'Web 2.0'

Is this ridiculous, or what?

Nate Anderson writes on ARS Technica:

The blogosphere is currently doing what it does best: buzzing. The source of the buzz is a cease-and-desist letter sent to IT@Cork, an Irish non-profit that plans to host a half-day "Web 2.0 Conference" on June 8. CMP Media, in conjunction with O'Reilly, sent the group a letter that demanded they not use the term "Web 2.0" in their event name.

Sharing, collaboration, and the wisdom of crowds are big parts of the Web 2.0 ethos—but they don't extend to using "Web 2.0" in a conference title. That's because O'Reilly and CMP jointly put on the Web 2.0 conference, and CMP has filed for a trademark on the phrase. They felt that IT@Cork's conference threatened that trademark (which has been sought both in the US and the EU), and so sent them a strongly-worded letter demanding that they cease "making any further use of our mark."

posted by Fergie @ 5/26/2006 08:51:00 AM