“Eu quero que ela se ferre em verde e amarelo”
December 20, 2018 1:20 PM Subscribe
After noticing their careful wording near the beginning to avoid saying that the Irgit's first one was homemade, none of the rest of the story came as a surprise.
posted by ckape at 1:55 PM on December 20, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by ckape at 1:55 PM on December 20, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'm curious about what, exactly, is protected by registration with the US Copyright Office. Clothing, as clothing, typically isn't protected by copyrights; fabric patterns can be, while the actual design of clothing can be protected by a utility patent (if it's functional) or a design patent (if it's not). This is separate from trademark r trade dress protection, which are not Copyright Office issues.
This also brings to mind a recent story about dirty tricks in Amazon's dispute system , which includes details of one scam where scammers apparently modify a trademark applicant's information at the USPTO--which struck me as a very weird vulnerability for the PTO to have:
Scammers have effectively weaponized Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting program. Attacks have become so widespread that they’ve even pulled in the US Patent and Trademark Office, which recently posted a warning that people were making unauthorized changes through its electronic filing system, likely “part of a scheme to register the marks of others on third-party ‘brand registries.’” Scammers had begun swapping out the email addresses on their rival’s trademark files, which can be done without a password, and using the new email to register their competitor’s brand with Amazon, gaining control of their listings.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:14 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
This also brings to mind a recent story about dirty tricks in Amazon's dispute system , which includes details of one scam where scammers apparently modify a trademark applicant's information at the USPTO--which struck me as a very weird vulnerability for the PTO to have:
Scammers have effectively weaponized Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting program. Attacks have become so widespread that they’ve even pulled in the US Patent and Trademark Office, which recently posted a warning that people were making unauthorized changes through its electronic filing system, likely “part of a scheme to register the marks of others on third-party ‘brand registries.’” Scammers had begun swapping out the email addresses on their rival’s trademark files, which can be done without a password, and using the new email to register their competitor’s brand with Amazon, gaining control of their listings.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:14 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm astonished she got copyright registration for that design in the first place, not because she stole the deisgn but because it doesn't appear to meet the legal test for protection of fashion designs. Where is the separable element of surface decoration? Every element of the bikini is functional -- the coloured threads are pretty but they also hold the pieces of fabric together. 2014 was before Star Athletica even, when it was probably even harder to meet the standard.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jacquilynne at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ah, I think this is the registration. Looks like it's for the print design, not the article itself. Which means that anyone making a similar bikini of similar materials, but different pattern, should be clear of any copyright infringement.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:19 PM on December 20, 2018
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:19 PM on December 20, 2018
Fascinating story. The worst part of this whole thing is that clearly, the most creative / interesting person, Maria Solange Ferrarini, gets the worst:
Mr. Forge reached Ms. Ferrarini, who consulted with a lawyer, and quickly negotiated a nonexclusive deal. In May, in exchange for using her crochet-and-elastic design and her name, PilyQ paid Ms. Ferrarini the equivalent of about $5,100. (In January 2019, she’ll get an annual fee of about $7,700.) Neiman Marcus and other major retailers now sell a suit under the name “Platinum Inspired by Solange Ferrarini” for about $170.
$7,700/yr to the original creator?? This is an absolute scam.
Marketing feels like such an evil trick to me, the task of yelling for eyeballs and attention and transmuting others peoples' attention into money, whereas those who actually design and create get the short end of the stick.
I get it, because I'm not naive, but can't help but feel like marketing is a monster, it doesn't really care about what's actually at stake, is just the practice of shouting louder until you finally notice. Sometimes it's worse - marketing doesn't even want you to buy things, it just wants your attention, the most precious thing we have, and it demands our attention for things that are just not worth it.
posted by suedehead at 2:19 PM on December 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mr. Forge reached Ms. Ferrarini, who consulted with a lawyer, and quickly negotiated a nonexclusive deal. In May, in exchange for using her crochet-and-elastic design and her name, PilyQ paid Ms. Ferrarini the equivalent of about $5,100. (In January 2019, she’ll get an annual fee of about $7,700.) Neiman Marcus and other major retailers now sell a suit under the name “Platinum Inspired by Solange Ferrarini” for about $170.
$7,700/yr to the original creator?? This is an absolute scam.
Marketing feels like such an evil trick to me, the task of yelling for eyeballs and attention and transmuting others peoples' attention into money, whereas those who actually design and create get the short end of the stick.
I get it, because I'm not naive, but can't help but feel like marketing is a monster, it doesn't really care about what's actually at stake, is just the practice of shouting louder until you finally notice. Sometimes it's worse - marketing doesn't even want you to buy things, it just wants your attention, the most precious thing we have, and it demands our attention for things that are just not worth it.
posted by suedehead at 2:19 PM on December 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
Ugh. flipping Star Athletica.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
$7,700/yr to the original creator?? This is an absolute scam.
They don't really need to pay her anything, and her name isn't really known at all in the US. They're paying her roughly the average income of a Brazilian in exchange for the non-exclusive use of her name.
It's mostly a courtesy fuck-you to Kiini, that so happens to give Ms. Ferrarini a sizeable bump to her income.
posted by explosion at 5:58 PM on December 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
They don't really need to pay her anything, and her name isn't really known at all in the US. They're paying her roughly the average income of a Brazilian in exchange for the non-exclusive use of her name.
It's mostly a courtesy fuck-you to Kiini, that so happens to give Ms. Ferrarini a sizeable bump to her income.
posted by explosion at 5:58 PM on December 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
I found this fascinating. I'm glad Ferrarini is getting the (very belated) recognition and at least some financial benefit. I liked her attitude:
Back in Trancoso, I asked Ms. Ferrarini what she wished would happen to Ms. Irgit. She replied with a reference to the colors of Brazil, and maybe of the bikini she had crocheted into existence. “Eu quero que ela se ferre em verde e amarelo,” she told me. “I want her to get screwed in green and yellow.”posted by Dip Flash at 6:10 PM on December 20, 2018
« Older The War In Iraq Outlasted The Weekly Standard | The Moonlight Sonata but the bass is a bar late... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Hypatia at 1:31 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]