HOUSTON, May 27 /PRNewswire/ — CaseWare International Inc., together with CaseWare IDEA Inc. and Audimation Services, Inc., are pleased to announce that they have reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which will result in the SEC permanently discontinuing its use of the mark IDEA in any form as a trademark or other source identifier on or in connection with SEC software and related goods and services. The settlement also provides that the SEC acknowledges that CaseWare International Inc. is the owner of Registration No. 2,423,582 of the trademark IDEA for CaseWare IDEA Software and that Registration No. 2,423,582 has attained incontestable status under section 15 of the U. S. Federal Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. section 1065. In return for these undertakings, CaseWare has voluntarily dismissed its civil action against the SEC, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) on March 10, 2009.

“We’re satisfied with the outcome but disappointed that we had to resort to the courts for resolution,” said Cal Bruner, Chief Financial Officer, CaseWare International Inc. “While it’s unfortunate that we needed to take this action, we have demonstrated that we will aggressively defend our trademarks, regardless of the size or resources of the infringer.”

“I’ve been associated with IDEA for over 20 years,” said Bob Cuthbertson, Chief Operating Officer, CaseWare IDEA Inc. “I’m very pleased to see that all our efforts to build a powerful brand will be preserved.”

“Throughout this process, we received lots of support from our clients,” said Carolyn Newman, CEO and co-founder of Audimation Services, Inc. “The possibility of confusion in the marketplace over product names was very concerning to us; with this settlement, we can now return to building our business and creating much-needed jobs.”

About CaseWare International Inc.

CaseWare International Inc. is the world leader in business-intelligence software for accountants, auditors and other professionals. CaseWare products enable users in over 110 countries to conduct their business with unparalleled ease and efficiency. http://www.caseware.com

About CaseWare IDEA Inc.

CaseWare IDEA Inc. is a software development and marketing company with offices in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, and distributor partners serving more than 90 countries. CaseWare IDEA Inc. is a subsidiary of CaseWare International Inc. http://www.caseware-idea.com

About Audimation Services, Inc.

Audimation Services, Inc. provides data analysis expertise and technology to accountants, auditors and financial professionals. Through its partnership with CaseWare IDEA Inc., Audimation Services offers the most powerful and complete set of data analysis software available to improve auditing performance and detect fraud. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Houston, the company is recognized for its extensive knowledge in areas such as data analysis, internal and external auditing, financial and operational auditing and fraud detection. http://www.audimation.com

IDEA is a registered trademark of CaseWare International Inc.

Website: http://www.caseware.com
Website: http://www.audimation.com

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire/ — Think Computer Corporation and Facebook announced today that they have settled all outstanding claims, including all of Think’s claims related to Facebook’s registered trademarks.

On January 10, 2006, the USPTO issued U.S. Registration No. 3,041,791 to Facebook for the mark “FACEBOOK.” On July 25, 2006, the USPTO issued a second registration (No. 3,122,052) to Facebook. In April 2008, Think filed a petition to cancel the ‘052 registration. In March 2009, Think filed a petition to cancel the ‘791 registration. In the settlement, Think agrees to abandon its petitions to cancel the registrations.

Think’s CEO and founder, Aaron Greenspan, attended Harvard with Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2002-2004, where both were entrepreneurially minded programmers. Starting in August 2003, Think released a web based student portal called houseSYSTEM through a Harvard student group. This software was designed to make life easier for students, faculty, and alumni. By September 2003, houseSYSTEM featured a section (devised and implemented by Greenspan) called “The Universal Face Book” (sometimes called “The Face Book”).

Think’s system contained a number of features, including a course scheduler, student marketplace, email service, automatic birthday reminder, message boards, photo album, digital flyer advertising, event calendar (with online RSVP’s), map integration, job placement, and local business reviews. At launch, houseSYSTEM did not feature member profiles due to campus security concerns. Profiles were added after Zuckerberg launched Facebook in February 2004, along with new features, allowing friends to record the way they had met and noting the strength of their relationships.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, said “Aaron and I studied together at Harvard and I’ve always admired his entrepreneurial spirit and love of building things. I appreciate his hard work and innovation that led to building houseSYSTEM, including the Universal Face Book feature. At school, I was even a member of houseSYSTEM. We are pleased that we’ve been able to amicably resolve our differences.”

Aaron Greenspan, founder and CEO of Think, said “I am glad that my contributions have been recognized by Facebook. Mark has built a tremendous company at Facebook, and I wish them continued success in the future.”

About Think

Think was founded in 1998 with the long-term goal of developing simple, useful computer software. From its inception through 2001, the company offered IT consulting services to over 150 clients. Today, it writes software programs that make businesses and organizations worldwide more productive. Think is on the web at http://www.thinkcomputer.com.

Website: http://www.thinkcomputer.com

The PTO cited the mark BING MOBILE, INC. for “mobile phone software for a social networking service” and rejected under the grounds of likelihood of confusion.

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Oh well.

There are a bunch of W branding out there if you think of it. For example:

George W. Bush
W Hotels
Webkinz
WordPress