In Not only does Web 2.0 not exist: it’s not your term to use, Russell Shaw of ZDNet.com publishes a scan of a threatening letter sent to a conference organizer in Ireland. In the letter, CMP Media asserts ownership of the term “Web 2.0″ in conjunction with conferences, trade shows, expositions and the like, and states that they have a service mark application pending for that usage of the term.
This is a bold assertion indeed, considering the worldwide assumption that it was a generic term. I’ve used the term in various conference speaking engagements, and in polling the audience several times about “Web 2.0″ I’ve concluded that most web marketing professionals believe that the phenomenon is real, i.e., the nature of websites is evolving to be more user-centric and participatory (along with various other characteristics claimed to be part of Web 2.0). A good share, though, don’t like the name and find it a pretentious moniker for natural evolution of websites and the technologies that drive them.
It looks like the naysayers, some of whom claimed Web 2.0 was a fabrication created by marketers with their own promotional agenda, were pretty close to right. Of course, this claim to service mark ownership is fairly narrow - just conferences and trade shows. Still, almost every web development or web marketing conference today will devote time to Web 2.0, both because it’s the buzzword du jour and because it’s convenient shorthand for the evolution of the Web. Will every conference or meeting, every keynote speaker, every presenter, etc., have to excise “Web 2.0″ from their titles, published material, etc.?
It will be interesting to see how this particular buzzword fares from here on. Already reviled by many, the term may end up in the buzzword junkyard - owned by CMP, but with little value.
Disclaimer: When used as a blog topic, Web 2.0 is a trademark of… well, we have no idea, but someone probably has an application pending with the USPTO at this very moment.
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