12位藝術家控訴Zara抄襲

至少有十二位獨立藝術家控訴該西班牙零售商盜用了自己的設計，其中一位女性藝術家圖斯黛伊·貝森（Tuesday Bassen）已正式起訴該公司。這位27歲的插畫師此前曾經與Urban Outfitters和耐克等多個品牌有過合作。她指控Zara未經允許或未支付報酬，盜用了自己的四幅原創藝術作品。

今年早些時候，有數百位粉絲詢問貝森是否正在與Zara合作，還是Zara抄襲了她的作品，那時候她才注意到這個問題。她通過律師聯系了Zara公司，但得到的答復卻是：

你的代理人聲稱的設計缺乏獨特性，因此很難判斷大多數人會如何將這些標志與圖斯黛伊·貝森聯系在一起。這是我們的觀點，而且我們已經充分注意到了你讓我們注意的第三方通知。最后一點請注意，這些通知僅有少量的投訴；考慮到全世界每個月有成百上千萬的用戶在訪問各自的房展（Zara：去年的平均月度訪問量為98,000,000次，Bershka：去年的平均月度訪問量為15,000,000次），通過這些數據可以非常清晰地看透這些為數不多的通知。

貝森對此的理解是，他們拒絕了自己的版權主張，原因是她是一個小藝術家，而Zara及其姊妹品牌則擁有成百上千萬的客戶。她對《財富》雜志（Fortune）表示：“這對藝術家的生活有巨大的影響。我要以此為生，但他們卻故意盜用我的作品，稀釋我的品牌。”

另外一位聲稱作品被盜用的設計師亞當·庫爾茨（Adam Kurtz），制作了一幅圖，將Zara的商品與獨立藝術家的作品進行了對比。大圖代表小設計師們的原創藝術作品，右上角的圖片則是Zara涉嫌抄襲的設計。

While at least a dozen indie artists are claiming that the Spanish retailer has stolen their designs, one woman in particular, Tuesday Bassen, has filed an official complaint with the company. The 27-year-old illustrator, who has previously worked with brands like Urban Outfitters and?Nike, has accused Zara of appropriating four pieces of her original artwork without permission or compensation.

Bassen became aware of the issue early this year when hundreds of her fans reached out to her asking whether she was collaborating with Zara or if the company had plagiarized her work. When she got in touch with the company through a lawyer, they responded with the following:

The lack of distinctiveness of your client’s purported designs makes it very hard to see how a significant part of the population anywhere would associate the signs with Tuesday Bassen. This is our firm view, and being fully aware of the 3rd party notifications that you have brought to our attention. In this last regard, please note that such notifications amount to a handful of complaints only; when it is borne in mind that millions of users worldwide visit the respective websites monthly (Zara: 98,000.000 average monthly visits last year, Bershka: 15.000.000 average monthly visits last year), the figures clearly put those few notifications into sharp perspective.

Bassen interpreted this to mean that they have rejected her copyright claims because she is a small artist while Zara and its sister brands have millions of customers. “It has an awful impact on the livelihood of an artist,” she told?Fortune. “This is how I support myself, and they are diluting my brand by literally stealing from me.”

Adam Kurtz, another designer whose work has allegedly been copied, produced a graphic comparing Zara’s products to those of indie artists. The larger photos show original artwork by the smaller designers, while the pictures in the upper right hand corners show Zara’s supposed recreations.

貝森也制作了一幅圖，將自己原創的四個設計，與Zara的相關產品進行了對比。

Bassen also created a graphic showing four of her original designs next to the Zara products in question.

威利·瑞恩的律師詹姆斯·華萊士認為，由于信息有限，貝森的主張是“沒有根據的。”他認為，這些短語和形狀屬于公有領域，這些設計的相似度不足以支持版權侵犯主張。

但弗羅斯特·布朗·托德的律師梅麗莎·科恩卻并不同意。她告訴《財富》雜志：“單獨來看，我能明白為什么Zara會聲稱它們沒有獨特性。但我認為你需要換一個角度，你要將橡皮和文字看成一個整體，包括顏色、角度等。”

雖然某些形狀或短語不會受到保護，但這些元素的組合卻可以讓貝森的訴求更有可信度。而且考慮到貝森指控Zara抄襲了一系列設計而不是一款設計，這將讓她對該零售商的指控更有說服力。

貝森對《財富》雜志表示，她計劃繼續起訴，并補充道：“我希望起訴的結果之一是，讓更多人意識到這種情況經常發生，但很少有藝術家能夠承擔維護權利的成本。”

《財富》雜志聯系了Zara母公司Inditex，尋求其對此事的意見。他們的回復是：

Inditex對所有藝術家和設計師的創造力，懷有深深的敬意，并且對于所有有關第三方知識產權的主張都會認真對待。最近，圖斯黛伊·貝森的律師聯系了Inditex，稱發現在外部采購的部分徽章以及集團店鋪內的服裝上使用了貝森的插畫設計。公司立即對此事展開了調查，并將部分物品暫停銷售。Inditex的法律團隊也盡快與圖斯黛伊·貝森的律師取得了聯系，澄清和解決了相關問題。（財富中文網）

作者：Michal Addady

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

James Wallace, attorney with Wiley Rein, says that based on this limited information Bassen’s claims are “baseless.” He argues that certain phrases and shapes are?public domain, and the designs simply aren’t similar enough to claim?copyrightinfringement.

Melissa Kern, an attorney at Frost Brown Todd, disagrees. “Individually looking at them, I could see where?Zara?could take the position that they’re not distinctive,” she told?Fortune. “But I think you could take a contrary position if you look at the eraser with the text as a whole, the coloring, angle.”

While certain shapes or phrases can’t be protected, it’s the combination of all those components that give Bassen’s claims credibility. And considering the fact that she’s accusing Zara of copying a collection of pieces and not just one design, a case against the retailer could be that much stronger.

Bassen told?Fortune?that she plans to pursue this case further, adding, “I hope that one outcome is that I can raise awareness for how often this happens and how few artists can actually afford to pursue it.”

Fortune?reached out to Inditex, Zara’s parent company, for a comment, and they responded with the following:

Inditex has the utmost respect for the individual creativity of all artists and designers and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously.?Inditex was recently contacted by Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers who noted the use of illustrations in some badges sourced externally and on clothes in its Group stores. The Company immediately opened an investigation into the matter and suspended the relevant items from sale. Inditex’s legal team is also in contact with Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers to clarify and resolve the situation as swiftly as possible.