Outdoor equipment company Jack Wolfskin has taken drastic legal action against several dawanda sellers for using paw prints in their products.
The thread on the German forum about this is now more then 80 pages long.
http://de.dawanda.com/topic/21/2539526?page=85

I assume most of you won't be able to follow the discussion in German, but the story has created big waves in the blog world and national press. The first to pick it up in english is American Advertising World:
http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=139767

I think it's important to show some solidarity and spread the word about this rather ridiculous attempt of trademark protection.

Totally stupid! I have cats everywhere and intend to use pawprints in my creations. I just don't understand him and as you say , it's ridiculous. Takes all sorts to make a world!

You might want to be carfulm about that, as this example from a british dawanda seller shows:
http://www.odechair.com/ode/ode/blog_files/718a6991059172d3c97a0ebcf1265b5b-24.html

such bad publicity for Jack Wolfskin ...... he may want to re-think his PR team ..

there is so much real copyright infringement going on, that stupid stuff like this makes light of the real problems of theft of intellectual property ... maybe the First Nations of Canada should sue Jack Wolfskin for stealing a native name :)

A little bit like some people hoping to copyright their polymere clay "macaroons"... Ludicrous. And a little bit pathetic too.

Interesting link there Sabine. Well if all this fuss is over cats paw prints then what about other paws such as dogs or elephants!! Will that land us in trouble too! What a waste of time and money when it could be going towards things that are desperately needed like feeding the hungry and buying medecines for the sick. Things like this are way beyond my comprehension!

It's just another example of corporate greed and bullying ..... and from what I am reading on blogs about this situation, it is causing a huge backlash in the indie community and boycotts of Wolfskin products ... I feel really bad for the artisans that are being threatened by the ridiculous actions of a stupid company ..

For those of you who are not familiar with German law, there is ( from what I've learned recently..) a difference between "cease and desist" letters common in the US, and the warnings the dawanda sellers received. Whereas the former demands you to stop certain actions within a time frame, the latter already includes a bill. And it can be hefty.
So yeah, a lot of greed involved. There is a whole indusrty of law firms doing nothing else...

This is crazy! nothing is new under the sun, eh? And paw prints must have been left on this earth for quite some time.. AAArgh! taking a patent or copyright on an animal or stuff like this is mad!
*heading to the sewing machine in anger* :D