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Art Plagiarism and Twitter Storm Put U.K.'s Paperchase in Hot Water
Here's a tough one for you. Indie artist and illustrator Hidden Eloise has taken the British boutique stationery store Paperchase to task, claiming that the company stole her whimsical creations and printed them on commercial goods like tote bags and notebooks. Feeling frustrated and stymied, Eloise took to her blog, and then Twitter, creating such a hullabaloo that Paperchase was forced to confront her allegations. Crowd-souring, Web 2.0 and social media come in to save the day.Yet, like our increasingly public interactions on the new Web landscape, it's more complicated than that. Paperchase's Chief Executive Timothy Melgund adamantly denies any imitation, saying that his company purchased the print from a reputable (but unnamed) London design studio. He told the Telegraph, "If we had been plagiarising, I completely understand why we would have received so many emails and Twitter posts concerning our business but we haven't." He even said that he contacted Eloise in December about her concern. Hidden Eloise says she didn't respond because it was a dull message about an unfortunate similarity between the two pieces of work. She has presented a video that shows a bit of a likeness between the tote and her print, although, not a totally convincing one.
On one hand, the Hidden Eloise versus Paperchase battle is heartening; people spoke to power, asserting their right to be heard and addressed. But, what if those people were wrong? Since this story broke, Paperchase has received threats of boycotts, aggressive e-mails, and a whole Twitter-storm of bad press. "I am sure (Twitter) can be beneficial but if you get an untruth (on it) it can be very dangerous," Melgund says, and he's right. Switched has no idea whether Eloise was plagiarized or not, but here is an excellent example of what happens when people blindly retweet and take to the soap-box. Thanks, @. [From: Telegraph.co.uk]
Update: According to Hidden Eloise, a Paperchase designer (kept anonymous) admitted to plagiarising Hidden Eloise's work. The designer wrote,
Update: According to Hidden Eloise, a Paperchase designer (kept anonymous) admitted to plagiarising Hidden Eloise's work. The designer wrote,
I did not intend to copy your character but use its pose to create a new design for my own character, my intention was not to copy your character, I now realise the pose was too close to your Eloise and apologise to you for this, I also apologise to paperchase for the trouble this has caused.
Read the rest of the apology, and view a breakdown a comparison of Hidden Eloise's originals to the Paperchase versions here. [From: The Hidden World of Eloise]
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Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsHidden EloiseFeb 13th 2010 3:06PM
Hello there dear Leila and all,
The designer has accepted that she has copied from my artwork and apologised.
You can read her apology here: http://hidenseek.typepad.com/come_out_come_out/2010/02/the-designer-apologises.html
You also fail to mention that I did not reply to Paperchase because they said they would not be removing the infringing items. I did the sensible thing after that and contacted a lawyer.
Paperchase has still not made any statements after the designer accepted copying or acknowledged anything.
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise
Leila BrillsonFeb 14th 2010 4:53PM
Thanks! Amended.
SarahFeb 13th 2010 3:13PM
Not totally convincing? Did you even watch the video? It's a blantant outline lift.
Ted BovisFeb 13th 2010 3:15PM
You've no idea if she was plagiarised or not? I thought journalists were required to do something called 'research'. If you can't manage that, maybe you could try a method known as 'looking at one thing and comparing it to another'. Small children develop this skill fairly early - try using it on the video you've linked to in, er, your article. Lazy writing, sorry.
HollyFeb 13th 2010 3:15PM
Erm... that video shows that the second one has pretty much been traced over. Surely anyone unbiased and with eyes can see that? In any case, the designer's admitted it so your article implying that Eloise and Twitter are the bad guys here now looks a bit stupid.
GMFeb 13th 2010 3:21PM
"She has presented a video that shows a bit of a likeness between the tote and her print, although, not a totally convincing one."
Are you seeing the same video I'm seeing? The main figure in the image was *traced*!
E MCGooFeb 13th 2010 4:00PM
Is the author of this blub an employee of Paperchase? Did you do any research? Did you contact the artist?
RESEARCH? Any? At ALL?
It's in a variety of places online that Hidden Eloise contacted Paperchase back in November and she received a reply that basically said 'unfortunate similarity, we paid for it, it's someone else's problem, so suck it'
The author writes:
"She has presented a video that shows a bit of a likeness between the tote and her print, although, not a totally convincing one."
Really? Invest in a pair of glasses.
JessFeb 13th 2010 5:07PM
Take a bung for this article much?
You only need basic vision and half a brain to see that the one image has been traced and presented as a new design.
And your apology to the Hidden Eloise is...........? where?
Leila BrillsonFeb 14th 2010 4:52PM
Oh, it absolutely is a trace of the outline, but that doesn't mean it will hold up in a court of law as a violation of copyright or plagiarism, especially because there is the fine line between 'inspiration' and 'thievery'. Most of these cases fall flat in court: just do some Forever 21/Urban Outfitters googling -- two companies notorious for being inspired by 'poses' or 'themes.'
Does this mean Eloise gets a right to all poses of this nature? I'm not asking this rhetorically -- I'm curious. Does tracing something and then giving it a whole new aesthetic/context make you a plagiarizer?
SFeb 15th 2010 7:13AM
She not only copied the pose but also the style of dress, socks, and shoes. If you look at the designers other works of the same character (as seen on Hidden Eloise's blog), she is barefoot. Also, there are dozens of ways to draw a girl leaning on something. She didn't have to outright trace it.