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| Игорь Мухин/GNU Free Documentation License |
Several
members of the punk rocker/feminist activist group known as "Pussy
Riot" have sought to trademark the name from their Russian prison cell.
In
February 2012, the controversial group performed a 30 second concert of sorts
on the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in which they hurled
obscenities against Virgin Mary, the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the
Moscow Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After a
trial, they were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and
sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Fear for
their lives apparently hasn't dampened their ardor or intellectual property
strategy, which consists of seeking to protect their name from
unauthorized uses.
Pussy
Riot's trademark lawyer said the group wishes to discourage attempts to use its
name to derive profits or promote "questionable" projects that
contradict its "ideals and aspirations."
He claims that profits will be tolerated only if the proceeds are used to "further fight the
political system's imperfections."
