The WordPress Foundation suffered a setback in its attempt to trademark the phrases ‘Managed WordPress’ and ‘Hosted WordPress,’ which could have allowed them to demand licensing fees for their use. An organization called Unprotected.org published documents showing it successfully petitioned the U.S. Patent Office to deny the trademarks.
The Uprotected.org website published:
“We have successfully made a petition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) against both trademark applications for “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress”.
They then quoted the United States Patent Office decision:
“Applicant must disclaim the wording “MANAGED” because it is merely descriptive of an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose, or use of applicant’s goods and services.
…This wording appears in the identification of goods and services. Thus, the wording merely describes applicant’s goods and services because applicant provides software for managing content on a website.”
Next Steps
The WordPress Foundation has three months to file a response, according to the documentation: