News

Pivot3 gets on its trademark high horse

posted on 21 August 2008 11:59

PivotSTOR name confuses our customers, poor things

Pivot3 is acting against PivotSTOR because it thinks we'll think they are the same company, and has asked the US trademark office to not allow PivotStor to trademark its name.

Pivot3's chief marketing officer, Lee Caswell, said: “We ... felt ... this name is likely to confuse our customers and partners." Right, especially the more educationally-challenged ones.

Pivot3 was founded in 2003 and makes products to store high-definition videos and video surveillance data. Caswell was one of its founders. PivotSTOR is a channel-focussed tape automation and e-mail appliance storage company. Like Pivot3 it first announced product in 2008.

Caswell said: "When discussions with the PivotSTOR management team did not lead to a satisfactory conclusion, we acted decisively to protect our rights.” You can imagine the discussions:

Pivot3: "Stop using the word Pivot in your company name and product brands."
PivotSTOR: "Excuse us? Are you serious?"
Pivot3: "Right, let's file a legal motion with the trademark people."

There has been no comment from PivotSTOR. It's interesting that Pivot3's chief marketing officer gets all the press focus here. Makes you think that legal action by Pivot3 could be marketing by another name.

Plasmon (optical archival storage) and Heinz nearly came to legal blows when they each discovered that Heinz owned an Italian babyfood subsidiary called Plasmon. Distressingly for the legal profession, common sense prevailed and Plasmon and HJ Heinz agreed babies would not be put into archival storage appliances by confused Italian mothers. Likewise Plasmon's archiving customers in Italy wouldn't buy baby food and try to stick it in their archive appliances.

Er... Nirvanix' Storage Delivery Network, ProStor, Sepaton's DeltaStor, StorActive, StoredIQ, StorageTek, StoreAge, StorLife, StorMagic, Storwize....

I mean, really, why bother - unless Pivot3 customers and partners, current and prospective, really have been confused. Really? In that case think of the problem Storwize reps have when talking to their prospects.

"Hi, I'm from Storwize."

"Oh jeez, not another one. Listen pal, I've had it up to here with you Stor-whatever folks. Call me again when you've got another name."

^{[Martin Edwards, news writer.]}