Man trademarks the mathematical symbol Pi

[jimmy olsen]

Dude should be lobotomized like the guy in the movie.

http://www.wired.com/2014/05/pi-takedown/

This Guy Trademarked the Symbol for Pi and Took Away Our Geeky T-Shirts

    By Kevin Poulsen 
   

This may be the biggest legal controversy to engulf the mathematical constant pi since that time in 1897 when the Indiana legislature tried to declare it equal to 3.2: A Brooklyn artist is claiming a broad trademark in T-shirts, jackets, caps, and other apparel featuring the Greek letter, resulting in the mass, temporary removal of thousands of products from the custom t-shirt printing site Zazzle.

At issue is U.S. trademark registration 4,473,631, 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 feature pi–which represents the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference–he had attorney Ronald Millet send the company a strongly worded cease-and-desist letter this month demanding their removal.

"It has been brought to our client's attention that your business, Zazzle Com/AKA Zazzle Inc., has been using the mathematical symbol 'pi,' referred to herein as the 'PI trademark,' in association with the marketing or sale of your products or of products offered through your services," Millet wrote on May 16. "We have evidence of your unlawful products to preserve as evidence. Accordingly, you are hereby directed to CEASE AND DESIST ALL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT."

The letter also demanded that Zazzle provide a full accounting of all sales of products featuring pi, and open its books to an independent audit to ensure no pi profits went unaccounted for.

Rather than risk a lawsuit, Zazzle responded this week by temporarily banning all garments featuring the 3,000-year-old symbol. "This impacted thousands of products," says Zazzle spokeswoman Diana Adair. "How many actually sold would be a much smaller number of course."

Pi is a popular symbol in mathematical puns, so the pi-pocalypse lit a firestorm in the print-on-demand T-shirt world. "This is asinine," wrote Dave Lartigue, whose banned "Pi plus E" shirts asserted that pi summed with the mathematical constant e add up to a tasty dessert. "Zazzle gave me instructions on how to file a counter-notice, and I plan to. Not because I really care about the dumb design, but because this is ridiculous asshattery that shouldn't be allowed to continue."

"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.

"Some clearly have a pi sign and look similar enough that folks out there might confuse it with products that my client also sells," he says. "I saw the back and forth on the blogs of some of the sellers on Zazzle expressing their disappointment. I can see that as an understandable reaction, from a personal standpoint."

But Stanford law professor Mark Lemley says Millet is trying to square a circle. A trademark is supposed to be used to brand a company and its products. "If you want to sell T-shirts and on the tag your brand name is the symbol pi, I think that's a reasonable trademark," he says. "But if what you want to do is actually prevent people from using the symbol pi on a T-shirt, then I think you're missing the point of trademark law."

After two days of being flooded with complaints over the takedowns, Zazzle reversed its decision on Friday, and began restoring the pi shirts to their stores. Millet says he plans to consult with his client to decide what to do next.

I asked Millet if Ingrisano has a trademark on any other mathematical constants. "No," he says. "None that I'm aware of at least."

[KRonn]

 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Morons!

[grumbler]

Morons!

Oooh.  Now you're going to get it!  That word is trademarked, too, I am sure.

[Josquius]

Oh America

[Darth Wagtaros]

Morons!

Oooh.  Now you're going to get it!  That word is trademarked, too, I am sure.

If it wasn't before......

[Berkut]

The real problem is not that some asshole thinks he has exclusive rights to the symbol, because that is simply and obviously not fucking true.

The real problem is that lawyers have turned our society into such a sue fest where they make their piles of cash not matter what the actual merit and validity of the case is,  that in many cases it is just easier to roll over rather than fight something that is obviously bullshit.

But of course, we all know that all lawyers always act in a ethical manner at all times, because such is the nature of their business.


I mean, no lawyer would ever actually send a clearly bullshit cease and desist letter that they must know is legally unfounded just because their client has paid them to do so!

[The Brain]

What about the Greek letter Pi?

[Darth Wagtaros]

The real problem is not that some asshole thinks he has exclusive rights to the symbol, because that is simply and obviously not fucking true.

The real problem is that lawyers have turned our society into such a sue fest where they make their piles of cash not matter what the actual merit and validity of the case is,  that in many cases it is just easier to roll over rather than fight something that is obviously bullshit.

But of course, we all know that all lawyers always act in a ethical manner at all times, because such is the nature of their business.


I mean, no lawyer would ever actually send a clearly bullshit cease and desist letter that they must know is legally unfounded just because their client has paid them to do so!

I agree.

[DontSayBanana]

The real problem is not that some asshole thinks he has exclusive rights to the symbol, because that is simply and obviously not fucking true.

The real problem is that lawyers have turned our society into such a sue fest where they make their piles of cash not matter what the actual merit and validity of the case is,  that in many cases it is just easier to roll over rather than fight something that is obviously bullshit.

But of course, we all know that all lawyers always act in a ethical manner at all times, because such is the nature of their business.


I mean, no lawyer would ever actually send a clearly bullshit cease and desist letter that they must know is legally unfounded just because their client has paid them to do so!

The obnoxious thing is that they could, but won't, lay the smack down on this guy as an example (even if only to save face for the profession).  He could be sanctioned.  He could be disbarred.  He's either completely unethical or so incompetent at the basics of his job that there's no net negative to punishing him for this behavior, yet absolutely nothing will happen.

[ulmont]

The obnoxious thing is that they could, but won't, lay the smack down on this guy as an example (even if only to save face for the profession).  He could be sanctioned.  He could be disbarred.  He's either completely unethical or so incompetent at the basics of his job that there's no net negative to punishing him for this behavior, yet absolutely nothing will happen.

I'm going to disagree.  The client has a trademark on the symbol PI for use on "Athletic apparel, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms" in commerce.

That's not crazy; PI is used a lot as a mathematical constant, but much less often as a brand.  I mean, "Apple" is a pretty common fruit, but we don't think it's odd to have it as a brand name either.  Same for the color pink for insulation.

And PI as used on those other shirts could in fact be confusingly similar.  Such as, say, this one:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/6f63/?itm=adwords_labelsT-Shirts_%26_Apparel_and_adwords_labelsRegular_Price&rkgid=1132043876&cpg=ogplatee1&source=google_tees&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CL61_YuD474CFQcSMwodelwAGA

Some of the shirt takedowns are probably not confusingly similar, but there's a wide range of possibilities and I don't see any problem with sending a cease and desist.

[DontSayBanana]

I'm going to disagree.  The client has a trademark on the symbol PI for use on "Athletic apparel, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms" in commerce.

That's not crazy; PI is used a lot as a mathematical constant, but much less often as a brand.  I mean, "Apple" is a pretty common fruit, but we don't think it's odd to have it as a brand name either.  Same for the color pink for insulation.

And PI as used on those other shirts could in fact be confusingly similar.  Such as, say, this one:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/6f63/?itm=adwords_labelsT-Shirts_%26_Apparel_and_adwords_labelsRegular_Price&rkgid=1132043876&cpg=ogplatee1&source=google_tees&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CL61_YuD474CFQcSMwodelwAGA

Some of the shirt takedowns are probably not confusingly similar, but there's a wide range of possibilities and I don't see any problem with sending a cease and desist.

And this is where I start distrusting the American trademark system- the cart's leading the horse, here.  This business was clearly created to validate the trademark.  I'd be willing to bet you money he tried to validate the symbol Pi, and he added the period when he was told he couldn't just trademark the symbol outright.  In fact, I'm willing to bet, given the "confusingly similar" T-shirt, that he's infringing on a mark from a copyrighted typeface.  The way the system is designed, it perpetuates bogus trademarks as much as it protects valid ones.

[ulmont]

This business was clearly created to validate the trademark.

You could look at some public records before just angrily typing, you understand.  Per the trademark records, this guy was selling T-shirts with the PI symbol on them since 2009.  Further, there's no business here; Pi Productions Corp. looks to be a d/b/a of Paul Ingrisano.

I'd be willing to bet you money he tried to validate the symbol Pi, and he added the period when he was told he couldn't just trademark the symbol outright.

You'd lose.  The application is clear that pi+period was what was applied for.  Also, there's no way pi+period would have been allowed if pi wasn't; pi+period is confusingly similar to pi.

In fact, I'm willing to bet, given the "confusingly similar" T-shirt, that he's infringing on a mark from a copyrighted typeface.

Why?  There are lots of fonts with no weird licensing restrictions.

The way the system is designed, it perpetuates bogus trademarks as much as it protects valid ones.

Unlike patents or copyrights, trademarks have to be actively used or they are abandoned.  And anyone with superior trademark rights in PI can file to cancel this mark; it's much easier than trying to invalidate a patent.