A media company claiming ownership of the term "Web 2.0" has relented in its attempt to prevent an Irish organization from using the term to promote a conference, following adverse reaction by a number of bloggers.
The conflict started last week when CMP Media, a company that puts on a conference series with O'Reilly Media, sent a letter to conference organizer IT@Cork, an organization that runs informational events for IT professionals in Ireland, ordering the organization to remove the term "Web 2.0" from the title of a conference scheduled for early June.
When a member of IT@Cork's steering committee wrote in his blog about the letter, response there and on other blogs was rapid and widespread.
Most commenters agreed that the term Web 2.0 is generic enough that anyone ought to be able to use it, although some people believe that O'Reilly Media has every right to protect a brand that it has nurtured.
