Datapoint Corporation, originally known as Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC), was a computer company based in San Antonio, Texas, founded in July 1968 by Phil Ray and Gus Roche. Its first products were computer terminals intended to replace Teletype machines connected to time-sharing systems. The company was formally renamed Datapoint, and by the early 1980s it ranked as a Fortune 500 company. In June 1990, the company sold the Datapoint name and various operations to its European subsidiary, which was headquartered in Brentford, England. The name and brand continued under the European entity, which had clients on 5,000 sites in 41 countries. [1]
Design and History
Datapoint’s visual identity went through several distinct phases, documented through trademark registrations and archival materials. The earliest known mark was a wordmark: a trademark for the word “DATAPOINT” was filed on May 23, 1978, and registered on November 1, 1978, in black and white (described as “墨色,” meaning monochrome ink color). [2]
In August 1984, Datapoint Corporation filed two related trademark applications for a “D LOGO” design. Both were registered in 1985 as monochrome marks. [3] [4] A vector file of a Datapoint logo, identified as “Datapoint logo alt.svg,” is preserved in the Wikimedia Commons category for Datapoint Corporation. [5]
Later, a trademark for “DATAPOINT CTI” was filed on December 19, 1997, by Datapoint Corporation (then at 9725 Datapoint Drive, San Antonio, Texas) covering computer hardware, software, and computer telephony integration apparatus. This mark was registered on June 19, 1998, and has since lapsed. [6]
Meaning and Symbolism
Documented descriptions of the Datapoint logo’s symbolism are limited. The 1984 “D LOGO” trademark registrations describe the mark only as a stylized letter “D” in monochrome, without recorded symbolic meaning. [3] [4] No official source documents color symbolism, specific color values, or design intent for the Datapoint Corporation mark. The company’s early marketing materials, such as a four-color brochure for the Datapoint 3300 terminal, show the company logo placed on the cover, but no design rationale is recorded. [7]
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