You can patent pretty much anything these days.
Especially if your father is one of America's most powerful and corrupt lawyers. And let's not forget that Bill Gates even claimed the word "Windows" for his own. How the Hell he did he pull that one off? It's a generic word to begin with, and, as I understand it, it had become a fairly common term in high-tech circles.
I still think that name could and should be challenged in court. And remember that legal spat Bill Gates had with that kid in British Columbia over the domain name
http://www.mikerowe.com, or something like that?
Actually, I suspect that was all a public relations stunt, a little conspiracy hatched by Gates & Co., who recruited Rowe to play the part of the victim. But that's another story...