One of the hardest things to do in the small business realm of audio is to come up with a name that expresses your business, one way or another. Some of us spend a lot of time arriving at that name, do due diligence to see if there is another business of the same name and then run with our brainstorms. Often even the best intentions can be rewarded with the publics’ inability to differentiate two very different companies.
Wayne Parham founded Pi Speakers years ago with the goal of producing high efficiency speakers that make music. This is not a simple task and Wayne has done an admirable job of doing just that. He trademarked Pi Speakers and the Greek symbol for pi as relating to speakers,
Years ago, I had a company named Positive Images that had products unrelated to audio. I used PI as my mark and that was fine and dandy. Then a remarkable thing happened. I went from the audio objectivist camp to realizing that wire isn’t just wire, etc, etc, etc… I also went on a mission to try to convince the other guys like me out there that there really is such a thing as “better.” Ask ajfromFla. He and I went at it hammer and tong for years… Bygones. We have since mended fences and actually become friends. Who knew?… on with the story. I liked the letters PI and so I became PI audio group, LLC. The letters P and I stood for ‘Politically Incorrect’. They still do and I still am. So my company is the Politically Incorrect audio group, LLC or PI audio group, for short.
Problem is that people in on the web see PI or Pi or pi and get confused. Both Wayne and I have noticed an uptick in confusion lately with me getting mail for him and his, me. We are both reasonable people and he and I have talked and have come to the conclusion that there needs to be a change made. Wayne is VERY reasonable and a good guy and we both agreed simply adding periods ( . ) after my capital letters should do the trick. That way Pi Speakers and P.I. audio group are separate entities. Technically speaking I am not in trademark violation because his trademarks are the aforementioned Pi Speakers and p. Functionally speaking I in no way want to cause anymore confusion than already has been caused. People see what they see and remember what they remember. In the advertising trade it is called “top of mind awareness” and Wayne has paid money to protect his marks and has been in business longer than I have, so the answer is that I make a change.
So I did. Check my new logo on this site.
P.I. audio group is here to serve you. So is Pi Speakers. Two companies with great products, serving the audio community.
It’s all good.
Dave
