“This action puts the wider interests of the community of npm users at odds with the wishes of one author; we picked the needs of the many.”
SOURCE: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5YpkNm/:1ToVke+U:iL!paN0y/qz.com/646467/how-one-programmer-broke-the-internet-by-deleting-a-tiny-piece-of-code
So these guys recognize the fake property rights of a "trademark" but then ignore the property rights of the programmer who took his property and went home.
Seems kind of inconsistent, IMHO.
Also, an interesting write-up of the philosophy behind the "needs of the many" Spock quote here: https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2013/09/spocks-illogic-the-needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-few/