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CloudBurst Trademarked?

This content is 15 years old and may not reflect reality today nor the author’s current opinion. Please keep its age in mind as you read it.

It’s no secret that “CloudBurst” is one of my least favourite cloud computing buzzwords. Its intended meaning is something like when you run out of room in your own datacenters you can “CloudBurst” into a public service like EC2. Not only is that somewhat the pipedream today (you want an enterprise app to do what?), but it is a significant deviation from the real world meaning of the term which according to Wikipedia is:

A cloudburst is an extreme form of rainfall, sometimes mixed with hail and thunder, which normally lasts no longer than a few minutes but is capable of creating minor flood conditions.

Fortunately it seems I may not have to put up with it for much longer because the guys at Ythos (a “Technology and Business Development Consultancy”) have gone and registered it with the USPTO (Trademark #77736577).

That said, it seems the USPTO have learnt some lessons from last year’s “cloud computing” trademark debacle, citing Dell’s ill-fated trademark in denying Q-Layer^W Sun^W Oracle’s application for NephOS. They should probably deny this one too, but I’m saying that through gritted teeth and would be quite happy to see it removed from the public lexicon.

Update: Interestingly LogMeIn, Inc. got in a scuffle over the trademark a few years back but unfortunately it was “Abandoned after an inter partes decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.”