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U.S. trademark registration 4,473,631 was issued to one Paul Ingrisano, aka "Pi Productions Corp" of New York. In January, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gave Ingrisano a trademark on the symbol π. pi followed by a period: a design Ingrisano uses on T-shirts sold at some brick-and-mortar stores.
When Ingrisano discovered that California-based print-on-demand outlet Zazzle offered an array of clothing items that featured the symbol pi, he had his attorney send the company a strongly-worded cease-and-desist letter this month demanding their removal.
"This would be like McDonalds claiming the letter M as a trademark," wrote Jez Kemp, whose Zazzle store offers apparel imagining pi dressed in a pirate costume. "The trademark is in the combination of style and symbol, not the symbol itself."
Attorney Millet defends the cease-and-desist letter. He says that to his knowledge none of the designs sold through Zazzle included the exact trademark π. -- pi followed by a period -- but some of them were confusingly similar to his client's design.
In 2011, Ingrisano attempted to trademark "I<3" artnet reports, which was "published for opposition" in June 2013. Reebok's intellectual property watchdogs claimed in a December 14, 2013 "Notice of Opposition" that "I<3" is too close to comfort to its own "I3" trademark.
(Score: 3, Funny) by cosurgi on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:01PM
OK, let's go trademark all two letter combinations of latin, greek and cyrillic alphabet. Then let's wait and see what happens next.
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#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
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(Score: 3, Funny) by forsythe on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:06PM
Dibs on `BS'.
(Score: 1) by Alfred on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:17PM
OK (tm)
also, stupid all caps filter
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday June 03 2014, @08:45PM
I'm just claiming "FU (tm)".
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by Alfred on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:01PM
Too late for FU. Friends University puts it on their shirts.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Tuesday June 03 2014, @11:06PM
I'd like the number combinations from 00 to FF in binary, decimal, and hex. Could you imagine the infringement caused by math books and sports jerseys? I'm RICH!
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 3, Informative) by cosurgi on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:09PM
Uh, actually I meant permutations.
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#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:15PM
Today
VIA CERTIFIED MAIL
cosurgi
123 soylent lane
Internet, Earth, 0.0.0.0
Re: Infringement of Trademark Rights of LoRdTAW.
Dear Mrs./Mr. cosurgi:
This law firm represents LoRdTAW. (“Uh/uh/UH/uHâ€) in connection with its intellectual property rights. Your use of Uh/uh/UH/uH and Uh/uh/UH/uH is a violation of LoRdTAW’s common law trademark rights, common law service mark rights, and trade name rights, and this letter constitutes LoRdTAW’s demand that you cease and desist any and all use of these domain names. You should immediately forward this letter to your attorney.
LoRdTAW is a family owned business offering Worthless Crap to consumers in the Earth, Solar System area, and throughout Earth. LoRdTAW was registered as an Earth corporation in [MONTH] [YEAR] and has continually used “Uh/uh/UH/uH†and “Uh/uh/UH/uH†(the “Marksâ€) throughout Earth as its brand name since that time. Since its incorporation, LoRdTAW has continually used the Marks in advertising campaigns and in the community, including through its website at www.greedyfucker.com which LoRdTAW registered on year 0. In addition, LoRdTAW has been actively involved in the community in its efforts to further promote its brand including its sponsorship of various events. As a result of these efforts, LoRdTAW’s customers, and the general public, have come to recognize LoRdTAW as an established and successful Worthless Crap business.
In just [X] months, LoRdTAW has received a number of reports of actual consumer confusion. This presumably represents a small portion of consumers who are confused but never take the time to find another way to contact LoRdTAW and report the confusion caused by your use of these domain names.
LoRdTAW has several options under Earth law to enforce its legal rights in the Marks. If LoRdTAW were to file a lawsuit against you, it would be entitled to seek: (1) preliminary and permanent injunctions; (2) actual monetary damages; (3) disgorging of any profits you have realized through your use of the Marks; (4) reimbursement of attorney’s fees required to prosecute a lawsuit against you; and (5) monetary damages for damage to LoRdTAW’s goodwill in the market.
Please be advised that LoRdTAW will undertake all appropriate steps to protect its Marks and its associated goodwill. You can avoid legal action by immediately ceasing and desisting from any and all infringing activity including use of the www.greedyfucker.com. You must cease and desist all promotion and/or marketing of Worthless Crap on these domain names. You are hereby put on notice that LoRdTAW and I will be monitoring your use of these domain names for this purpose. Additionally, you must execute a copy of this letter and send it to this firm within seven (7) days of the receipt of this letter. I recommend you consult with an attorney before taking any action.
If you or your attorney have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
John D. Bag
Asshatberg, Douche, Liarson and Associates.
CC: Client
Boiler plates are fun!
(Score: 2) by cosurgi on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:45PM
omg, lol :)
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#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
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(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:05PM
You just create a huge unreasonable barrier to entry.
All of the two letter combinations had already been registered for domain names, and last I checked, two letter ones were forbidden going forward. HP.com is a notable exception and grandfathered in.
Greed and corrupt business practices are so rampant, that regular people are looking for new markets in whatever way they can. Just like oil speculators nearly tanked the US economy by driving gas to all time highs, the domain squatters have created an entirely new marketplace based on bullshit. The unfortunate casualties are real businesses that would use a domain for it's intended purposes.
This new behavior of predatory extortion is gaining a lot of traction everywhere. If you think about it, all of these "things" you can lay claim to in cyberspace is analogous to land in meatspace. All of those people are just claiming whatever land they have just in case it's valuable enough to sell later.
Allowing such an idiotic trademark in the first place just opens the door to people getting marks for stuff used in everyday conversation to act like trolls on the bridge.
We've become a planet of parasites...
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.