AT&T (NYSE: T) and CSC are among a group of companies that have been named in a trademark infringement lawsuit by competitive provider BizCloud for what they say is an infringement and deliberate use of its "BIZCLOUD" trademark.
Filed on Jan. 10, BizCloud claims these companies engaged in willful trademark infringement, unfair competition, unfair business practices, injury to business reputation and unjust enrichment.
A key target of this suit is CSC. BizCloud alleges that CSC infringed on its trademark when it began using the "BIZCLOUD" mark for its private cloud service in February 2011, a year after BizCloud applied to trademark its name.
While BizCloud said it sent a cease-and-desist letter on Feb. 3, 2011, CSC did not reply and continued to use the "BIZCLOUD" mark.
According to the lawsuit, CSC "applied and received a trademark in the EU months after BizCloud®'s cease and desist request was issued." The systems integrator continues to use "BIZCLOUD" in promoting its "Private Cloud" service, "BizCloud VPE" service and "BizCloud for Government" service.
Besides CSC, BizCloud alleges that AT&T, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), VMware and EMC are also infringing on the BizCloud's registered trademark "BIZCLOUD" by entering into partnerships where they are distributing CSC's products and services with the mark "BIZCLOUD."
AT&T and CSC announced an agreement last year where the integrator will deliver its BizCloud and other cloud services via AT&T's cloud infrastructure and networks. In addition, CSC can migrate applications to enable AT&T's customers to get access to a cloud environment.
BizCloud said these other companies' relationship with CSC and use of the "BIZCLOUD" mark is "causing irreparable harm to BizCloud® brand."
AT&T did not respond to a request for a comment about the pending lawsuit.
For more:
- see the release
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