It seems that these days the most common form of intellectual property madness is in the form of patents and copyrights. But let’s not forget that there is more than just two those: there is also trademark. Here’s a story that exemplifies how intellectual property represents a form of theft via the state:

Eat’n Park, a Pennsylvania bakery and restaurant chain, says it has caught Plano-based Cookies by Design selling smiley-face cookies that it says are “confusingly similar” to its own.

And it’s suing.

Eat’n Park says it has a trademark from 1987 for the “sugar cookie having raised design of a smiling face.” In its lawsuit filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania on Dec. 31, the company asks that Cookies by Design stop selling its version of smiley cookies and pay an undisclosed amount of dough in damages.

Here’s some more on trademark, patents and copyrights.

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