I'm sorry... what's in a name?

My loving and thoughtful wife, knowing that my favorite sketching tool is the famous Sharpie® marker, brought me home such a deal that she'd found at the supermarket a few days ago - a 12 pack of Sharpies® for a single dollar! When you consider that even at the office superstore-type places, the things usually sell for about $1.50 each, I had to commend her for her purchase:



Of course, I'm always a few Sharpies® ahead of what I need, so they sat on the kitchen table for a few days, blister pack unopened. This isn't unusual for our house - 'putting things away' is a lengthy process with many stages, of which being piled on the easiest convenient surface is the first. I did note when first seeing them that the package itself looked a little off-brand - half-assed, even - and maybe was some kind of wholesaler's repackaging of stock to unload.

Then I was standing in the kitchen, and looking at it, and thinking, "gee, that 'h' in the famous cursive logo looks kind of odd, doesn't it?," and took a closer look:



Uh. Skerple? I mean, what? There's got to be some kind of copyright infringement going on here, doesn't there? Right down to the barrel design:



Now, the reason I like the Sharpie® is because of the strong quality of its nice and black line, surprising pressure-sensitivity, and very long-lasting use. This is just a guess, but I'm thinking that the Skerple won't quite match the performance I've come to expect, and, on top of that, may even give me some fungal infection on my drawing hand.

I've never been so apprehensive about using a marker, before...

D.