Shepard Fairey is the creator of the iconic Obama “Hope” poster. He’s been admired by critics and guerilla artists, and just weeks ago he was the subject of a profile on CBS Sunday Morning. But Pittsburgh graphic designer Larkin Werner has a different perspective. To him, Fairey is the guy who is “picking on a baby.”
The baby in question is Steelerbaby, a blue-eyed kewpie doll clad in a knit black-and-gold uniform. Steelerbaby became an online hit — he boasts more than 2,000 friends on Facebook — after Werner created a Web site for the doll during the NFL playoffs in 2005. The following year, he started designing and selling Steelerbaby merchandise at the online store cafepress.com to satisfy demand for the doll Werner describes as “slightly creepy.”
But early last month, Werner learned that Fairey’s company, Obey Giant Art Inc., sent cafepress.com a cease-and-desist letter, informing the online store that Steelerbaby’s merchandise marked with the word “Obey” was infringing on the artist’s trademark.
The notice came as a surprise to Werner. For one thing, he says, Steelerbaby’s line didn’t pose much of a threat to Fairey. According to cafepress.com, Werner had made less than $70 in the previous three months for the sale of 16 items, 10 of which had “Obey” written on them.
But Werner says he’s less concerned with the legal issue presented by the cease-and-desist letter — he has no plans to fight Obey Giant Art about the trademark — than he is with its hypocritical nature. Fairey, he argues, has bolstered his own career by appropriating images and infringing on the trademarks of others.
via randomwalks/dj
