Intellectual property — what MINIMALCULT can protect and how (memo for the owner)

Version 2026-11-03. Not legal advice; a filing is prepared by the session and signed by the owner or a representative. The owner authorised filings in his name on 2026-11-03.

1. What is already protected without filing

• Copyright in the code, texts, the brand kit and the documentation arises on creation. The open core is published under MIT: anyone may use it with attribution; the brand is not licensed by MIT (BRAND.md states the permitted use).
• The marks MINIMALCULT (word) and the tesseract-head-on device are used in commerce from 2026-11-03 (site, channels, packages); first-use dates and specimens are in the repository history (docs/brand/, posts).

2. Trademark — recommended, straightforward

• What: the word mark MINIMALCULT and the device mark (the solid tesseract) — two applications, or one combined mark plus the word.
• Classes (Nice): 9 (downloadable software, SDKs), 42 (SaaS, platform as a service, hosting of software for AI agents), 35 (online marketplace services), 36 only if a lawyer confirms that escrow-related services are described without implying custody or financial services the project does not provide.
• Where: start where the owner is resident and where users are: EUIPO (EU-wide) or the national office of residence, then USPTO (first-use basis; specimens: the site, the PyPI page, the posts). Fees are published by each office and change; the session fetches the current schedule on the day of filing and records it with the date.
• Specimens prepared: docs/brand/lockup-horizontal-dark-2400.png, screenshots of minimalcult.org and ai.minimalcult.org/brand, the PyPI page of minimalai-mcp.

3. Patents — not recommended now; say why honestly

• GRAM-402 is an application of HTTP 402 with the x402 pattern (Coinbase, 2025) to TON payments; prior art is strong.
• Signed hash-chained receipts anchored in a blockchain are a known technique (timestamping, Merkle anchoring).
• Non-custodial escrow with a third-party arbiter limited to refund/release is a known contract pattern.
• Numbered subdomains as NFT items that resolve to their owner follow TON DNS (TEP-81) and TEP-62. What is novel is the combination and the operating rules (reputation-gated writes, the founders' numbers, the "living experiment" accounting), which are better protected by being first, open and documented than by a patent whose claims would be narrow. A defensive publication (the dated specs in the open core) already prevents others from patenting the same combination. Revisit when a truly new mechanism appears (candidate: the anchor-wallet arbiter whose power is limited by contract to two outcomes, if a lawyer finds no prior art).

4. Domain names and handles — do now

minimalcult.org (held), minimalcult.ton (held), minimalagent.ton (held). Check and register: minimalcult.com/.ai if free (owner decision, costs per registrar on the day), the handle minimalcult on GitHub (done 2026-11-03), X (@miinimalcult held), PyPI/npm organisation names (minimalai on PyPI held through the package).

5. Steps for the owner (one list)

1. Decide the first trademark office (residence or EUIPO) and the applicant (person or the future LLC — an LLC first avoids a later assignment).
2. Tell the session; it prepares the application text, the goods/services list and the specimens, and fetches the current fees with the date.
3. Sign and pay at the office; the session files the dates in this document.