Kurt Denke is my new hero. He's the former lawyer who is President of Blue Jeans Cable, a competitor of Monster Cable. When he received a cease and desist letter from Monster, who alleged some of Blue Jeans' "Tartan" cable products were too similar to Monster's, Denke sent back a devastating and heroic reply. This is one of the best letters I've ever read. It's heroic and ballsy, and strategically brilliant. Further, I think this letter can help illustrate the unavoidable practical difficulties that will necessarily plague any attempt to have an IP--that is, pattern privilege--system. It helps to highlight why such a system cannot be but unjust. These kind of expensive and intractable problems, inherent vagueness and bullying tactics, will always accompany a patter privilege system. Any layman who is in favor of patent should read this letter, and think about the consequences of the system they advocate.

(Cross-posted at Mises blog)

I love this part:

If Monster Cable proceeds with litigation against me I will pursue the same merits-driven approach; I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds. As for signing a licensing agreement for intellectual property which I have not infringed: that will not happen, under any circumstances, whether it makes economic sense or not.

It will be interesting to see if the Monster Cable bullies proceed against Blue Jeans Cable, or if they back down, as bullies often do when confronted with someone who can give as good as he gets. Now if the guy being sued by the bully J.K. Rowling for copyright infringement can come up with a similar defense....