BRIMLEY, Mich. (AP) — Two Michigan men are in conflict over recently discovered glowing rocks in the Upper Peninsula.
Erik Rintamaki is credited with finding the sodalite-rich syenite rocks in 2017 on a Lake Superior beach near Brimley. He chose to name the fluorescent rocks “Yooperlites” and trademarked the term.
But the Detroit Free Press reports that Jason Asselin, a self-described online personality based in the Upper Peninsula, disagrees with his trademark.
Both men say Rintamaki’s lawyer sent Asselin a cease-and-desist order after he tried to sell Yooperlites on the website Etsy without first getting Rintamaki’s consent.
Asselin asserted in a YouTube video last month that the trademark is disrespectful to Yoopers, as residents of the Upper Peninsula are affectionately known.
Rintamaki contends that trademarking the Yooperlites term was simply a business decision.
