How the Refinder Cloud Service Comes to the USA - not via a "Port Of Entry"

How is a cloud service like Refinder connected to its users? Via the internet, of course. But that leaves an interesting point for the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) authority.

Today I received the trademark document confirming our registered trademark Refinder® from the USPTO. A sideletter offered that we also inform the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) about the trademark, to allow them to prevent the importation of goods bearing infringing marks at each of the 317 ports of entry. Interesting to learn, that there are 317 places where you can import goods into the USA. Compare this to the way you connect to Refinder:

According to the lovely submarine cable map provided by TeleGeography - and their research - there are around 252 submarine cables connecting the world. So, providing a worldwide cloud SaaS service like Refinder to users, and making it search all your other cloud apps worldwide, takes less ports of entry than you can import/export goods from the U.S.A. I like this world, things are getting easier.

Coming next: you will not ship those goods anymore, but fab them in your local FabLab or Hackerspace.

P.s. the web also made it obsolete to write "Refinder®". We love "Refinder".