Lawyer Up

“This is asinine. 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.” -- Dave Lartigue, t-shirt designer and wordsmith

Like the salmon flocking to Capistrano, the lure of the phrase 'ridiculous asshattery' is one we find impossible to resist. So when wired.com used it as a tag in this story on a trademark infringement claim, tractor beam - sucked us right in.

U.S. trademark registration 4,473,631 gives Paul Ingrisano, dba Pi Productions Corp, a New York corporation, the rights to the symbol for pi followed by a period. Ingrisano uses the mark on t-shirts. So far, so good.

Our story took a turn, though, when Ingrisano found that Zazzle, an online print-on-demand retail store, was selling various items with pi imprinted upon them. Through his attorney, Ronald Millet, he filed a cease and desist order (or, more accurately, a CEASE AND DESIST order - I think he really, really meant it).

  Zazzle Pi Trademark Letter

Clearly intimidated by the all-caps demand, Zazzle removed all items with pi from its online store, which prompted Lartigue's indignation. After several days of backlash, the company did begin once again allowing its users to sell pi-based articles.

No word yet on which words Millet will capitalize in his next complaint to Zazzle.