Fashion designers as absolutists

Here's a post drawing attention to the tactics of Levis, enforcing their trade mark rights in the US against other jeans designers. more about the depth of pockets than the designs on them, perhaps - the point being that intellectual property rights in the hands of rich companies are almost complete proof against any imitation whatsoever on the part of smaller, less well-off competitors. Much of the posting quotes from Mike Atkins's Seattle Trademark Lawyer blog (see my Blawgroll), recruiting it to opposition to the Design Piracy Prohibition Act.

I worry when I see the word "piracy" in this sort of context: there's a lot of it about, of course, but there's also a lot of exaggeration - in the same vein as "copyright theft". Sui generis protection for bullies? Doesn't sound like a positive step.