For a High IQ Society, American Mensa is not all that smart. Its funds are controlled by a Management Committee which is your typical old buys/ girl network.
the same committee misuses the membership funds for running personal fiefdom. From its own internal estimates (source Yahoo group m-grapevine http://groups.yahoo.com/group/m-grapevine/ - this group is open for membership to anyone), American Mensa Lt spend more than 1.9 millions dollars on needlessly suing Inpharmatica, a drug company. The waste is so infamous that Intellectual Property Attorneys give it as an example of wasteful expense, here is an excerpt from Intellectual Property attorne Clement Cheng's website:
(http://www.clemcheng.com/html/welcome.html)
Example #1 in American Mensa, Ltd. v. Inpharmatica, Ltd. et al., No. 07-3283 (D. Md filed Dec. 6, 2007) Mensa (the high IQ society) spent over a million dollars in Ferderal Court and lost, unable to stop the sales of AdMensa IQ enhancing product. Mensa was then forced to raid $600,000 from life membership funds. If the lawsuit had only cost about $100,000 by hiring a small firm for a TTAB action (limited to likelihood of confusion), there would have been little pain and still enough money to fight a dozen battles. By hiring the expensive attorneys, Mensa lost the war before it even started. Thus, in the long run, high intelligence and education are no match for creative efficiency since creative efficiency is what keeps costs under control. Clement Cheng supports Mensa as a life member and is greatly saddened by the financial losses.
One would have thought that the misuse of the membership funds will stop after such a loss. Not really, American Mensa;s Name and Logo Chair, Ms. Robin Crawford continues to use its membership funds to have its Intellectual Property attorney harass its own members, even on issues unrelated to Intellectual Property!
And here is what a Maryland Attorney records in his blog (the above case was filed in Maryland):
http://www.marylandiplaw.com/2009/05/articles/trademarks/judgment-against-american-mensa-in-trademark-dispute/
