Could they be planning on suing all the small time startups that use the word "bitcoin" in their products? Perhaps they think they can extract some money from small companies by threatening them with lawsuits if they don't pay up.

Could be more profitable than mining bitcoins...

Absolutely. I can't imagine they intend to do anything more than trademark troll everyone using bitcoins.

These guys remind me of William R Della Croce J, and not in a good way. See http://www.tuxdeluxe.org/node/107 for more.

Wow, the lawyer is a piece of work...

http://www.pascazilaw.com/Articles.html

I can't edit my other comment, so let me try again: the phrase "piece of work" is generally an indication of strong disapproval.

Since there is nothing apparent on the page that was linked to that seems objectionable upon casual examination, I am curious what f1gm3nt saw there to indicate that the guy is "a piece of work".

What do you mean?

First Use Date: 2011-06-22

First Use in Commerce Date: 2011-06-22

A hurdle; bitcoin was started in 2009: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bitcoin

That refers to the trademark claim, not the name itself.

As in, when the company first started using it?

IANAL but I believe you can apply for a registered trademark on a name you've already been using in the marketplace for some time. Maybe someone knowledgeable can comment on the specifics?

http://tdr.uspto.gov/search.action?sn=85353491 Take a look at the Specimen. It's sent to someone named Michael at this address http://maps.google.com/maps?q=22+Avenue+Pierre+Koenig,+Sarce... on June, 22 2011.

Trademark application states the first use was on this date. Also note that the Specimen was also used to create the article about bitcoin http://www.pascazilaw.com/Articles.html

Another nice thing to note is that the letter is from Magellan Capital Advisors, LLC. Notice the signature at the bottom of that letter is signed by Celline M. Pascazi. I can only assume she is related to someone at the law firm, Pascazi Law Offices.

I really don't think this will get approved since it's very obvious that this is a trademark troll. be very interesting to see how this plays out.

I wish I knew more about trademark law. The applicant is very interesting though: Magellan Capital Advisors LLC

Posted 2 hours ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2735799

Interesting. That one does not show up in the HN RSS feed. I wonder why not?