WORDLAB

Free Naming and Branding Consultants and Resources

Veni, Vidi, Vici, Vista™

Is Microsoft so big it can just use any product name it wants, knowing the lawyers will sort it out and they can ultimately buy whatever they need to acquire the necessary trademark rights?

According to a report in the Seattle Times, Microsoft may have stepped on the toes of another software company, just down the road in Redmond, when it announced the name "Vista" for its next Windows operating system.

Vista Inc., a business software and services company founded in 1999 by John Wall, owns a trademark of "vista" and is considering its options, which include "talking" to Microsoft. Talking to trademark owners seems to be the last thing on Microsoft's "to do list" when it comes to naming a product.
...the Windows team came up with several words that reflected the experience of using the new product. They were hashed out across the company, tested and reviewed with the help of outside consultants.

Microsoft splits its major advertising and branding work between ad giants Young & Rubicam and McCann-Erickson. The final decision was made by Windows bosses Jim Allchin, Will Poole and G. Michael Sievert, a former AT&T Wireless executive hired this year to lead the product's marketing.

Vista is a tricky choice because many companies claim trademarks on various uses of the word, said Wall, whose Kirkland-based Wall Data was acquired by Cupertino, Calif.-based NetManage in 2000. He has had to defend his company's trademark on the use of the words "vista" and "com" together; the company also owns the Internet domain vista.com.

"It's further confusion to a confusing mark," he said of Microsoft's decision.

As of yesterday afternoon, no companies had raised any Vista trademark issues with Microsoft lawyers, spokeswoman Stacy Drake said. She said the company filed for trademark protection of the words "Windows" and "Vista" used together.

"The name Vista is commonly used by a variety of companies in a variety of industries," she said. "We are only using the word Vista paired with our trademark Windows so the two together — 'Windows Vista' — form the name of our next operating system."
Engadget notes that among other "companies that could be affected by the new name are La Jolla, California, based Vista Software, and Warren, Ohio’s Vista Window Co., which makes, you guessed it, Windows."

Vista Windows. Windows Vista. Bringing clarity to your world.
Posted by abnu on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 @ 12:07 AM [ + ]

WordLab

More blogs about naming and branding.

Technorati Blog Finder

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Latest Wordlab Entries
  • Fanatastic
  • Shock and Almonds
  • Will Drink for Food
  • A Parent's Guide to Ambulance Chasing
  • Sproil
  • Hunt and Garter
  • Crutch and Dagger
  • Zenacity
  • Dwealth
  • Exosurance
  • Atilla Mockingbird
  • Born to Scrum
  • Harpo Marxism
  • Outliving Your Life Insurance Company - A Parent's Guide
  • Ciàobama






© 2006 WordLab. All rights resilient.


Note the cool Fine Print: The content found on WordLab is free to the world. Although we cannot guarantee that any of this content is not already in use by someone, somewhere, on this planet who may have seen it on this Web site or created it independently of our Web site, we have made a reasonable effort to give you what we believe to be original names and slogans and generally good stuff. Use what you will of our content since it is here for the taking. However, if you decide to use one of our names for a commercial activity, and since we have no assurance that the name may not already be in use by someone else as a trademark, domain name or otherwise, we strongly suggest that you take appropriate legal precautions, such as seeing a lawyer. In short, any necessary due diligence is up to you, but we at least make no claims on your potential future dream name. We merely ask that if you do decide to use any of our content, that you please send us an email ["word at wordlab dot com"] about it for use in our internal records and eplosive marketing campaigns. Thank you, and enjoy.