Nadia Plesner is relieved that a court in The Hague has thrown out a copyright infringement lawsuit that was brought against her (again) by luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Eyeteeth has the story and the artist’s reaction.
Tag: copyright
Posted inOpinion
A Helpful Guide to Fair Use
Fair use is a term we hear bandied about all the time nowadays (Shepard Fairey vs. AP, Patrick Cariou vs. Richard Prince, etc.), but what is it really? The library of the University of Minnesota wants to help you out.
Posted inArt
Blurring Luxury and Art: Nadia Plesner vs Louis Vuitton
The story of Louis Vuitton’s recent legal action against 29-year-old Dutch artist Nadia Plesner is a curious one. Not only because Plesner had already been sued by Louis Vuitton in 2008, and not only because it was over her use of the same design, and it involved the same bit of imagery, a starved and platter-eyed young African boy, holding a chihuahua and the Audra bag, à la Paris Hilton, but because Plesner is using the same defense that failed her in 2008 and Louis Vuitton took the same action against her that it did three years ago: an ex parte court ruling against her. But let’s take a closer look.
Posted inOpinion
Did Urban Outfitters Steal This Art?
“I was really upset this morning when I found out that Urban Outfitters has STOLEN the work of street artist Cali Killa.” — According2g.com
I’m a bit torn on this issue since I don’t know if an artist who uses public space to display their art (often illegally) has the right to tell someone else they cannot remix their work. In other words, if you remix public space, doesn’t someone have a right to do the same to you even if they make money off of it?
Posted inNews
Artists Go to Law School
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has initiated a course for contemporary visual artists to protect themselves and their art projects. It is an introduction to legal issues that is designed to make “legalese comprehensible and manageable.”
Posted inNews
Museum Files $2 Million Suit Against Photographer for Posting Photos
Photographer Thomas Hawk visited the World Erotic Art Museum in South Beach took photos, he claims he didn’t see the no photography sign. Now the South Florida institution filed “fradulent” DMCA notice with Flickr and Yahoo, which owns Flickr, has threatened Hawk’s entire account with permanent deletion without future warning.
Posted inOpinion
I See Balloon Dogs Everywhere, Shhh Don’t Tell Jeff Koons
In response to Jeff Koons’s zany copyright lawsuit, I thought it would be fun to collect some awesome balloon dog-related merchandise and images from across the web.
Posted inOpinion
Who Owns Photos Distributed Via Twitter?
A major electronic media copyright issue. Agence France-Presse is arguing that “Twitter’s terms of service allow third parties broad re-use rights to their content, and thus the photographer’s selection of this mode of digital distribution gave AFP a broad license to redistribute the photographer’s images without consent from the photographer.” Yikes. [Clannco]
Posted inArt
John Cage “Silenced” on YouTube?
YouTube user AdamLore posted a video on his channel November 8, 2009 of John Cage performing his seminal piece 4’ 33”, a piece of music in which the famed minimalist composer placed a stopwatch on his piano and did nothing for the specified length of time. The twist to the Youtube version is that the audio has apparently been excised from the video, leaving John Cage’s performed “silence” as real, literal silence. The censorship is apparently courtesy of Warner Music Group, with a tagline below the video claiming “NOTICE This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by WMG. The audio has been disabled.” But is that the real story?
Posted inNews
AP Spreads Own Story, Urging Shepard Fairey to Settle Copyright Case
The Associated Press has disseminated a story that props up its own interests in the Shepard Fairey Obama “Hope” copyright case. Some people are wondering if the news service should’ve filed a story with no real updates except that things are still going well for the AP.
Posted inOpinion
Why You Should Always Caption Your Photos & Videos Properly
Online we encounter more information than ever, but we also lose a hell of a lot. On May 3, the blog WeLoveViral posted a photos and a video titled “Swimming Pool Illusion.” The YouTube video embedded in the post is titled “Amazing Japanese Fake Pool” and has been viewed (as of today) 6,211,210 times!
The problem is that the pool is question is neither a pool, nor Japanese. In fact, it is an artwork by Argentinean artist Leandro Erlich titled “Swimming Pool” (2008).
Posted inNews
Green Day Sued By Artist Over Copyright
Artist Dereck Seltzer alleges that an image he created and copyrighted was illegally used by the band Green Day on their website, music video and concerts in 2009.