The whole David and Goliath trademark thing continues with two new players. Meet SPARC International, a self-described “extremely valuable asset” belonging to Sun Microsystems, and SparkFun Electronics, a website where you can buy things to make little robots and stuff.

SparkFun recently applied for a trademark for their logo. Part of the process includes a step where various entities can object. Enter SPARC International. It is important to note before moving on to SPARC’s demands that SparkFun is a website where you buy things.

From SparkFun’s blog:

SPARC Industries’ attorneys seem to think SPARC looks and sounds an awful lot like SparkFun. Tuesday morning we received a cease and desist letter from K&L Gates law firm. Amongst other things they demand that we “immediately take steps to transfer the sparkfun.com domain name to [SPARC International].” Right. Let me just find where I put that password…

Gee, we can’t imagine why they’d be reluctant to do that. If you’re interested in a full, blow-by-blow account of the letter, you can click here.

The short version is that SPARC is a type of server made by Sun Microsystems. SparkFun sells what appear to our uninterested eye to be the little circuit boards that are in like, birthday cards that play music. It would be pretty hard to confuse a tiny do-it-yourself Theramin with a SPARC product.

It’s our opinion that SPARC should be sending C&Ds to Stark Industries because, well, it would make about as much sense… they both seem sort of evil and they rhyme, which is really confusing for consumers.

SparkFun Gets a Cease and Desist Letter [SparkFun]

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