The Recent Trademarking of Pi: A Troubling Precedent

Background Intellectual property law is complex and varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but, roughly speaking, creative works can be copyrighted, while inventions and processes can be patented and brand names thence protected. In each case the intention is to protect the value of the owner’s work or possession. For the most part mathematics is excluded by the Berne Convention [1] of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) [12]. An unusual exception was the successful patenting of Gray codes in 1953 [3]. More usual was the carefully timed Pi Day 2012 dismissal [6] by a US judge of a copyright infringement suit regarding π , since “Pi is a noncopyrightable fact.” We mathematicians have largely ignored patents and, to the degree we care at all, have been more concerned about copyright as described in the work of the International Mathematical Union’s Committee on Electronic Information and Communication (CEIC) [2]. But as the following story indicates, it may now be time for mathematicians to start paying attention to patenting.