These days I have learned that Fischer International Identity has trademarked to pretty generic terms:
- Identity as a Service (TM)
- IaaS (TM)
I wondered (and still wonder) about that. Fischer declared that they have invented that type of business (“a services-based architecture built from the ground-up for the express purpose of cost-effectively delivering identity management capabilities via the Software as a Service (SaaS) model”), built on a SOA architecture, supporting multi-tenancy, being able to work across firewalls. Honestly: Yes, they are an innovator in that space.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the only technology to which the terms mentioned above are applied. There are many different identity services. External identity providers for OpenID, strong authentication services, SSO for the cloud,… – to all these services the terms IaaS (TM) and Identity as a Service (TM) are frequently applied. And if you look at Application Security Infrastructures, then it is as well about providing identity services.
Thus, I agree with Fischer that they are sort of a pioneer in providing “provisioning as a service” (which would be PaaS) but I don’t agree with their view on that they have invented they entire market space for which these terms are used today. Anyhow, it is a little like Daimler having trademarks on “car”, “Automobil”, and other related terms, isn’t it!?
On the other side: Maybe I shouldn’t bash on Fischer for trademarking (why not try to get them?), but the ones on the governmental side which have agreed to trademark these very common terms. What will be next? SaaS (TM)? Cloud Computing (TM)? I really can’t understand that such common terms are trademarked (and I will use some related but somewhat different terms in the future). However, anyone who uses these terms has to attribute ownership of the mark to Fischer International Identity, like they have stated. Let’s look how they deal with the trademarks in practice. And be careful when using these terms.
To comply with the trademarking stuff: Identity as a Service (TM) and IaaS (TM) are trademarks owned by Fischer Internation Identity.
Maybe you should trademark the name "Martin" and then just start collecting royalties!
see, i knew i was on to something. The first time I mentioned "identity as a service" was DIDW 3 (2004) – to Jamie Lewis. Apparently, I missed out on a good trademark opportunity
I'm not an expert on trademark law but you can use the 'tm' if you claim a mark even if you don't register it with the USPTO. If an application is pending you also will use the 'tm'. Only if it is registered and accepted can you use the registered trademark symbol (r inside a circle). Non registered mark claims are virtually not enforceable as trademark infringement. If indeed Fischer is applying to register the marks, I have to have faith that the reviewer will find the prior uses of IaaS and Identity as a Service and throw it out. IaaS would be easy to replace. Identity as a Service would be much harder.
Hey, i just asked my wife – a trademark specialist – about this and am eager to see her reply! While checking out the website I also found the term Identity as a Service® (thus they ARE registered!) and then Managed Identity Services™
I simply lost my belief – this term is SO general while at the same time being descriptive, it makes me want to go to the office and punch that TM clerk in the face…