Categorie: social enterprise

So much for that. In a victory for all of us who find the idea of trying to trademark generic-sounding terms tedious — and a victory, too, for those who actually work in the world of social enterprise — Salesforce.com has announced that it has withdrawn its applications to trademark the term “social enterprise,” originally filed earlier this year. It’s also promising to stop using the term “social enterprise” in its marketing materials in the future.

In a statement, the company today acknowledged that part of the reason for its turnaround was the response from the “social sector” — that is, non-profits — who worried that Salesforce’s trademarking of the term would cause a lot of confusion. Indeed, while Salesforce applies the term to how businesses use social media, the social sector, Saleforce today acknowledged, uses the same term for “organizations that apply commercial strategies to improve human and environmental well-being such as reducing poverty or improving education.” In other words, not quite the same thing as monitoring a hashtag around a new perfume.