[rectang]

I'm referring to Perl, which is another product in the same market (unixy command line applications) and has the same pronunciation.

https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search/likelihood-confusion

> Trademarks don’t have to be identical to be confusingly similar. Instead, they could just be similar in sound, appearance, or meaning, or could create a similar commercial impression. Here are examples of trademarks that were found to be confusingly similar.

> These trademarks are confusingly similar because they could be pronounced the same way, even though they’re spelled differently.

> Your mark -- T. Markey

> Conflicting mark -- Tee Marquee

[dmd]

From your phrasing here, it sounds like you think the OP is unaware of Perl, which is odd, considering they mention it in their very first sentence.

[rectang]

To clarify: I had read that passage, and I was definitely aware that the name could be interpreted as a reference.

Trademark conflicts in open store sometimes start that way. For example, “CouchBase” was a reference to “CouchDB” — it was originally a complementary effort, but later became a competitor. By the time the CouchDB folks realized that they should’ve been enforcing their trademark, it was too late.