Inventor: Prince Rogers Nelson
Patent number: D349127
Filing date: Jan 16, 1992

Issue date: Jul 26, 1994

U have 2 love the artist formerly known as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” or Prince Rogers Nelson 2 his mother. He was right in the middle of legal battles over artistic and financial control with Warner Bros. Records when he filed this patent 4 his Portable Keytar (also known as the Purpleaxxxe!) It was a messy time for Prince and he never really recovered, appearing in public with “Slave” scrawled in Sharpie on his cheek. Prince explained:

 ”Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros… I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name”.

Of course his Purpleaxxxe wasn’t his only involvement with the USPTO. The name “Prince” is a trademark owned by Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. It was initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2005 in the categories of printed materials, clothing, electronic commerce, and entertainment services based on first commercial in 1978.

Prince has used a tom of pseudonyms over the years, including Jamie Starr and The Starr Company, Joey Coco, Paisley Park, Alexander Nevermind and Christopher (used for his song writing credit of “Manic Monday” 4 The Bangles).