The term was coined in 1999 by a brand consulting firm called Interbrand. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA)—now known as the Wi-Fi Alliance —hired Interbrand to create a name that was catchier than the technical standard name, "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence."
The official usage dictates that the term must be spelled "Wi-Fi" (capital W, capital F, hyphenated). It should not be written as "WiFi," "wifi," or "Wifi" in formal contexts, though colloquial usage has made lowercase variations common in everyday text. wi-fi trademark
This is a unique hybrid: The word is free for the world to use (ensuring adoption), while the certification mark (the stylized logo with the yin-yang waves) remains legally protected and monetizable. It’s a permissionless brand for the technology, but a permissioned mark for quality assurance. The term was coined in 1999 by a