Instead, trademark law protects brand names, logos, symbols, designs and other optional elements of apparel and accessories, and trade dress law protects the design, packaging or appearance of apparel and accessories, solely to the extent they identify the source and origin of such products.

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On back, the phone's been mercifully spared from brand overcrowding, with logos only for HTC and Beats Audio interrupting the monochrome.

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The fashion industry has historically sought and been granted protection for limited aspects of their products, like trademarks on logos and brand names, which are recognized as their property.

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Thus Shanghai boasts brand-new universities and research centres (bearing the logos of American as well as Chinese companies) while Trenton, New Jersey, suffers from shuttered factories and gang-infested streets.

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While DBC isn't about to change course and suddenly start slapping large logos on their bikes, there is a desire to improve brand recognition.

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