In a not too stunning development, someone at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office apparently woke up and realized the silliness of Dell's attempts to trademark the phrase "cloud computing."
Computerworld has reported that the USPTO canceled the Notice of Allowance it had granted on Tuesday and returned the application to examination.
The move is not the end of Dell's chances to trademark the phrase, but an intellectual property attorney quoted in the article speculated that the move could mean that a primary examiner took note of the public attention and arguments against the trademark and decided that the matter needed further review.
An InternetNews report says that a Dell spokesperson confirmed that the action originated at the PTO and was not the result of a move by Dell.
CNET blogger Dave Rosenberg suggests that Dell consider pursuing the term Clown Computing instead.
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