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Diskonte Macht Frei

There will be no criticism of the great and powerful Wal-Mart! The corporation sent a cease-and-desist notice to Walocaust. They also sent a similar cease-and-desist to CafePress, which immediately stopped selling the Walocaust T-shirts. (No surprise...)

Wal-Mart claims that the Walocaust site dilutes their trademarks and is likely to cause confusion. There is no way that anyone in the U.S. would possibly think that any of this was approved of by, or is associated with, Wal-Mart. But it does say a lot about Wal-Mart's self-image. And, I suppose, its plans to take over Europe.

Fortunately, Walocaust proprietor Charles Smith isn't taking this lying down. He went to Lawrence Lessig for counsel, and now, through Public Citizen, has filed a complaint against Wal-Mart in federal court. I can't wait to hear Wal-Mart argue that Nazi imagery is indistinguishable from their own trademarks.