The platinum-selling artist who has seen huge success from her albums ‘don’t smile at me’ and ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ has cancelled her new merchandise line which was a collaboration between her and Siberia Hills due to copyright Infringement.
A hoodie on this new collection contained an image which was almost identical to a sketch which was done by Makoto Kurokawa. This copyright infringement was noticed by the fans of the music star who noticed this transgression.
Siberia Hills has apologised through the form of an Instagram post for their plagiarism of the popular anime artist’s work. They claimed that Billie was not involved with the design and was unaware that Siberia Hills used the work of Makoto Kurokawa. Their designs were available on the music artist’s website. All of the fans that purchased this product are being refunded. As well as this the whole clothing line has been removed from the website.
Makoto commented on the situation, stating that he wasn’t informed and did not permit them to use his fan art and that the copyright belongs to the original holder and not him.
This is a Cautionary tale on using other artists work. In the United Kingdom Copyright on an artistic work last the lifetime of the artist plus 70 years. Infringement of this is when someone uses the whole or a substantial part of someone else’s work without permission. A Substantial part is a tricky term as a small portion of the work can still be a substantial part.
If you intend to use a design which is not original and has been done by another artist you have to ask for permission to use the design. If you were not given permission and you use the design you have infringed the artist’s copyright. It is likely the matter will be resolved in mediation. If this does not occur it will likely result in an injunction and the copyright owner can be awarded damages. As well as this, deliberate infringement can even be a criminal offence.
It is clear that no harm was done in this matter and that Siberia Hills are taking full responsibility for their actions and have learnt a lesson not to use other artist work without asking.
By Owen White Third Year Law Student at Solent University
