There's a twist

Rico says it seems the Indian Wars aren't really over, they've just moved into court, and Maria Panaritis has the story in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Navajo Nation has filed a federal lawsuit against Urban Outfitters Inc., alleging that the Philadelphia-based retailer committed trademark infringement by marketing and selling products that use the tribe's marks and names without a licensing or vendor agreement.
In the civil action filed in US District Court in New Mexico, the tribe and its commercial subsidiaries seek damages and an order stopping Urban Outfitters from using the names  Navajo and Navaho and marks on goods that compete with its own trademarked jewelry, housewares, and clothing.
The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico because Urban Outfitters operates a store there, and it is one of three contiguous states that houses the sovereign tribe's 27,000 square miles of territory; Utah and Arizona are the two other states.
Telephone messages left for Urban Outfitters spokesman Ed Looram were not returned.
The lawsuit contends that Urban Outfitters began using the Navajo name, and a differently spelled version, Navaho, in its product line or in connection with the sale of its merchandise as early as 16 March 2009; the company applied those names to clothing, jewelry, shoes, handbags, caps, gloves, undergarments, and scarves.
Merchandise also bore designs and marks that "evoke the tribe's tribal patterns, including geometric prints and designs fashioned to mimic and resemble Navajo Indian and tribal patterns, prints, and designs," the lawsuit says. "Urban Outfitters has sold and is selling over twenty products using Navajo and Navaho trademarks in its retail stores, its catalogs, and its online stores," the tribe contends.
One example cited: a Leather Navaho cuff was on Urban Outfitters' website in January of 2010. About a year later, by the tribe's estimation, the company launched a product line of "twenty or more items containing the Navajo name, or the term Navaho in the product name alone."
Those included a Navajo Nations Crew Pullover, Navajo Feather Earrings, a Navajo Print Fabric Wrapped Flask, and a Navajo Hipster Panty, the lawsuit says.
The alleged infringement was not limited to the Urban Outfitters brand, but extended to its Free People brand, a wholesale designer label and group of stores within the company, which has its headquarters at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The publicly traded corporation also operates Anthropologie, Terrain, and BHLDN stores.
The tribe included in its court filings a link to a Free People webpage that showed jewelry available labeled Navajo. The link displayed a webpage showing turquoise-colored stones on necklaces and bracelets labeled Vintage Handmade Navajo Necklace for $328, Vintage Navajo Squash Necklace for $398, and Vintage Navajo Cuff (photo) for $298.
The lawsuit comes months after the Navajo Nation tangled with Urban Outfitters on the issue out of court, including a demand that the company stop using the Navajo trademark, court filings say. "The company did remove the word Navajo from its product names on its website and replaced Navajo with the term Printed in response to the Navajo Nation's cease-and-desist letter," according to this week's lawsuit. The complaint cited an October 2011 news story as evidence of the company's having agreed to do so. That did not, however, occur to the tribe's satisfaction, according to the lawsuit, which claims the retailer continued to use the disputed names and marks on goods sold in its stores and "also continued to use the word Navajo on its sales receipts."
The Navajo Nation accuses Urban Outfitters of trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, and commercial-practices laws violations, and of violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

Rico says the Dinetah (what the Navajos call their land; they call themselves the Dinê) is nothing to fuck with, but Urban Outfitters could've saved themselves a bunch of trouble by doing a licensing deal beforehand. (But a Navajo Hipster Panty might be pushing it...) Rico says you wanna bet this crap is made in India or China, anyway? (So much for vintage, let alone authentic...)