Thunderbolt (formerly often called Light Peak) could have been developed by Intel, but it’s Apple that’s been snatching up all of the trademark glory. The corporate first filed in November of 2010 in Jamaica, then followed up in February of this year by securing the rights to the name in Canada, before registering similar claims in Europe, China, and now the usa. This raised some interesting questions on Intel’s claim to be the exclusive trademark holder (see the more coverage link) and even if other companies will be in a position to use the Thunderbolt brand. Intrigued, we did just a little digging and you will find what we uncovered after the break.
We spoke to Intel, and it seems that as component to its collaboration on Thunderbolt Apple filed the initial trademark requests before transferring them to Chipzilla. So, there aren’t any worries about this being a Cupertino exclusive on branding. The connector may be referred to as Thunderbolt across all platforms provided it meets some basic requirements. As Intel’s Dave Salvator told us, “a Thunderbolt implementation must use the controller chip, and the Thunderbolt connector.” That implies if Sony is in actual fact using a USB port , as opposed to the Mini DisplayPort-like jack found on MacBook Pros, then it’s going to ought to find another name for its high-speed peripheral interface. That isn’t to mention it couldn’t made compatible with an easy adapter, in any case it’s just PCI Express in cable form. But, whatever it appears like, it couldn’t be called Thunderbolt.
While Thunderbolt requires a chipset this is, for now, built exclusively by Intel, there may be nothing preventing other motherboard manufacturers from integrating it into their products. That’s excellent news, especially for AMD fans afraid they were going to be overlooked. Sooner or later the Santa Clara-based company may bring others into the fold should market demand exceed their manufacturing capabilities.
For now there doesn’t appear much of a reason to fret about Android-style fragmentation of the Thunderbolt platform. Really, Intel expects to seen the emblem in “many places in early 2012,” but there does look room for others to muddy the typical. Meanwhile, USB 3.0 just keeps marching its unified front towards peripheral dominance…
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