The dispute between the social enterprise community and Salesforce.com regarding the company’s wish to trademark the term “social enterprise” has come to an end. Today, Salesforce announced in a press release that the company has decided to stop using the term “social enterprise” and abandon the application to trademark the term.
For nearly two years, salesforce.com has evangelized the term “social enterprise” to describe how social and mobile cloud technologies empower companies to connect with customers, partners, and employees in entirely new ways. When salesforce.com applied to trademark the term in the IT sector earlier this year, members of the social sector expressed concern that it would cause confusion around the meaning of the term. The social sector, including both non-profits and for profits, define the term “social enterprise” as organizations that apply commercial strategies to improve human and environmental well-being such as reducing poverty or improving education.
Salesforce.com has engaged in a dialogue with a number of these concerned parties, listened to their feedback, and is now withdrawing its applications to trademark the term “social enterprise.” In addition, salesforce.com will look to remove any references to “social enterprise” in its marketing materials in the future.
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“It was never our intention to create confusion in the social sector which we have supported since our founding,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. ”As a result of the feedback we received, salesforce.com has decided to withdraw its efforts to trademark the term ‘social enterprise’ and plans to discontinue its use in our marketing.”
To read the full release, visit: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salesforcecom-withdraws-applications-to-trademark-the-term-social-enterprise-168518696.html