ST. LOUIS Parody or piracy? That's the question raised by a lawsuit filed by The North Face Apparel Corp. against a small company started by a teenager that calls itself The South Butt.

The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in St. Louis seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to prohibit The South Butt from making, marketing and selling its parody product line of fleeces, T-shirts and shorts.

The South Butt was started two years ago by now-18-year-old Jimmy Winkelmann, partly to help pay for college. It puts out products with the tag line "Never Stop Relaxing," a parody of The North Face line, "Never Stop Exploring."

Albert Watkins, the attorney for The South Butt and Winkelmann said, "The South Butt has previously made it clear to The North Face that the consuming public is insightful enough to know the difference between a face and a butt."