Consortium's Trademark Application Shows Breadth of Anticipated IoT Goods, Services

Industry's anticipated breadth and diversity of possible IoT products and services is contained in the 340-word description accompanying the trademark registration application for a certification compliance logo that the Open Interconnect Consortium submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office about a month before changing its name to the Open Connectivity Foundation (see 1602190059), PTO documents show. The “certification mark,” OIC said in the application (serial number 86877163) it filed Jan. 15, “is intended to certify that goods manufactured or distributed by authorized persons comply with designated standards pertaining to the Internet of Things.” Those goods and services could include such things as “metal garage doors,” “smart Wi-Fi speakers,” electronic “monitors that enable the interoperability of electrical and electronic devices of any kind via wireless communication,” “smart yoga mats” and even “DNA analysis devices for environmental, food and pathogen monitoring,” the application said. OIC “has a bona fide intention, and is entitled, to exercise legitimate control over the use of the certification mark in commerce by its authorized users on or in connection with the identified goods/services,” it told PTO. OIC itself “will not engage in the production or marketing of the goods/services to which the mark is applied, except to advertise or promote recognition of the certification program or of the goods/services that meet the certification standards of the applicant,” it said. The logo “consists of a miscellaneous design in a circular shape comprised of interlocking curved lines,” with no color claimed as a feature of the mark, OIC’s application said. The newly renamed OCF is "not sure yet" whether it still plans to use the logo that OIC applied for Jan. 15 or whether it will develop a new mark since it changed its name, even though the logo depicted in the PTO application bears no OIC branding or identifier, spokeswoman Danielle Tarp emailed us Monday. OCF expects the compliance logo program to be ready for launch this year, she said. A notice on the group’s website says its certification activities are “still in development.” OCF has said it’s working to “accelerate solutions leading to a single, open IoT interoperability specification.”