IP as a Joke: South Butt Edition

10/08/2009 Mises Wire Peter G. Klein

Jimmy Winkelmann, a freshman here at the University of Missouri, established The South Butt clothing company, poking fun at today’s logo-obsessed youth. The result? You guessed it: a cease-and-desist letter from The North Face, accusing Winkelmann of sowing “confusion” in the marketplace and violating its intellectual-property rights. Surprisingly, Winkelmann didn’t back down, but decided to fight the case. Go Jimmy!

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