What's wrong with making a buck and publicizing this putative Great Thing they call Critical Mass at the same time? At least it's a messenger bag and not a line of miniskirts: Stop traffic for blocks with the new Critical Mass line of short, short skirts from Patagonia!

Fucking Islamic Doctors.

If memory serves, Patagonia made Critical Mass bags before Critical-Mass-the-bicycle-thing came along. And if I understand trademarks correctly, neither Patagonia nor the bike folks really have any grounds for action, as light luggage is unlikely to be confused with cycling advocacy, and neither group is moving into the other's territory.

I may, of course, be mistaken, or nuts.

Wikipedia says the first Critical Mass protest was in 1992 -- was the Critical Mass bike bag produced before then? Doesn't make sense to call a bike bag "Critical Mass" before there was a "Critical Mass" bike protest thing.

I just question the wisdom of hitching a brand to a controversial event.

Well, 'critical mass' refers to some other things, too, including, I suppose, the carrying capacity of a hypothetical bag, or the amount of material that the bag carries, or something.

Unfortunately, the Internet isn't a great tool for researching things that happened before 1992. Absent contacting Patagonia, though, the best I can do is the recollection that they've been making that bag for years.

I stand corrected!

I took a quick look through Archive.org, and found a "Critical Mass Bag" already trademarked in 2002.

I'll tell my friend.

First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you
Then they co-opt you
Then ... ???
PROFIT!