Life is grand

Tim O’Reilly arrives back from his well deserved holiday and responds to the Tom Raferty/IT@Cork Web 2.0 dispute:

Now, I want to address the deeper issue that’s been raised, about whether it’s appropriate for anyone to hold a trademark on the term Web 2.0, and to give some backstory on how this happened

Tim goes on to say that he feels it is appropriate for CMP and O’Reilly to enforce their trademark. I fully understand it is a business issue but Web 2.0 has come to mean something important to a good number of people. This isn’t Coca Cola or LinuxWorld which are specific and contrived. I was unaware that O’Reilly coined Web 2.0 until quite recently. I had assumed it was a phrase that grew from the blogosphere just like the term blog had, with no distinct owner. It suits the nature of the phrase too.

In my opinion they would be wiser to let it go and continue to reap the good will rather than reap a few extra dollars from their Web 2.0 conference. To be clear; once they get the trademark they have every right to defend it. If they think that is the right course of action then they should. I simply think it is a course that is more trouble than it is worth (as we have already seen.)

Tim points out that Microsoft with Mix 06, Google with Zeitgeist and the Ajax Experience all step around the Web 2.0 trademark problem while retaining the Web 2.0 feel. I disagree. Ajax is a small part of Web 2.0 and I wouldn’t go to the Ajax Experience expecting to learn about open data formats, social software and other Web 2.0 themes. Google Zeitgeist covers far more than Web 2.0 and Mix 06 (which I went to) had only a minimal Web 2.0 theme.

“Web 2.0″ covers what many of us think it to be. It is appropriate to use in a conference title with some consideration. Is CMP going to send cease and desist letters to Web 2.0 Unconference? Or Web 2.0 Barcamp? How about Mixing Web 2.0? The IT@Cork lads should avoid Web 2.0 Conference in their title next year but not drop Web 2.0 from the title totally. Web 2.0 @ Cork Conference?