Here is Mikeal Roger's response https://gist.github.com/mikeal/9242748

You guys make the judgement, but none of this can be good for node.

Thanks for the heads up. Looks like there's a bunch of discussion of the issue in the gist comments.

Babies vs bathwater...

EDIT: some interesting and relevant technical info on the history of the npm registry infrastructure: https://gist.github.com/mikeal/8947417

followup: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7318631

"After listening to the deep concern that has been voiced over our application to register the npm trademark we have decided to withdraw the application from the USPTO."

good move