Up in arms over who owns 'Web 2.0'

What's in a name? Occasionally, a lawsuit.

Publisher O'Reilly Media recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to IT@cork, a networking organization for IT professionals, concerning the use of the term "Web 2.0" in a trade show.

It turns out that O'Reilly recently applied for a service mark on the phrase, which is commonly used to describe Web services that allow people to collaborate and share information online. The letter set off a firestorm of controversy online, with bloggers ridiculing the company.

In a blog posting, O'Reilly officials defended themselves, saying that the service mark applies to its use in "business conferences and educational conferences in various fields of computers and information technology."

"It's a pretty standard business practice. Just as O'Reilly couldn't decide to launch a LinuxWorld conference, other event producers can't use 'Web 2.0 Conference,' the name of our event," wrote Sara Winge, O'Reilly's vice president of corporate communications.

But the explanation doesn't seem to be calming things down.

Blog community response:

"I hardly know where to start, as this is truly guffaw-inducing. I mean, could it ever get any more blackly comedic than a true-blue open source guy like Tim getting dinged for indirectly registering a service mark related to a core technology?"
--Infectious Greed

"This just has to be one of those bone-headed things lawyers do when no one is looking. If it isn't, than I would predict that O'Reilly has just put himself on the fast track to reputation implosion."
--Naked Conversations

"Whomever is in charge of O'Reilly Conferences owns this problem and owns the responsibility for this issue. To send out Sara 'don't shoot the flack' Winge is unfair to her (she didn??t do it) and makes O'Reilly look like just another big company with all the same tired nonsense. Either Tim himself personally authorized this or some manager personally authorized this. Somebody needs to step up and say, it was me, I own it."
--The Post Money Value