Case study 5 : Modern Dog Design vs. Target Corporation ( 2011 )

Illustrations: Modern Dog – 2008; T-shirt: Target (both via Business Insider)

Case 

There is an ongoing case regarding how the Disney/Target corporation allegedly infringed on Modern Dog Corporation, a small Seattle based company that produced a book of dog sketches and graphic illustrations. 

Seattle design firm Modern Dog utilized a series of sketches of dogs in their compendium put out by Chronicle Books in 2008. Disney/Target corporation later created a kids shirt with a similar dog-drawing collage on the front. Some of the dog sketches are flipped, but the majority of them are very similar to the sketches in the Modern Dog book. The illustrations from that design have been used in a T-shirt produced by Disney/Target for sale. 

In the end, Modern Dog Company got their justice, because Modern Dog was the 1st ones to create the pictures. Disney and Target used the pictures for sale, without giving any credit to Modern Dog. 

Held 

This is a pending case, so nothing is certain but Modern Dog has been campaigning online pretty heavily for publicity and funds to help with its legal fees over the issue.

Copyright Act 1987 Section 36(1)

The Copyright Act 1987 states that an infringement occurs when a person does something without the licence or permission or consent of the copyright owner.

The copyright in a work is infringed when a person who:

(i)not being the owner of the copyright 

(ii)without consent or license of the owner of the copyright,

Point of view 

Based on my understanding , Disney/Target are making money of a work that they allegedly stole from someone else. 

There is no way to prevent infringement, it will always happen in this world. As I mention in the previous post, why do artist need to learn about copyright law ? IS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES. 

We need to make sure that independent artists and small companies can protect themselves in similar situations That means moving some copyright cases into state courts and even small-claim courts, where it’s faster and less costly to dispute. As an industry that makes a living from selling creative work, we need to demand these changes happen sooner than later. 

As we know bringing a case into court is not free. Modern Dog has been campaigning online pretty heavily for publicity and funds to help with its legal fees over the issue. Besides, they have sell their company for the case fund. 

Therefore, never ever forget to credit your own work to prevent such cases happened.


references

https://sites.udel.edu/cisc356/2015/04/29/modern-dog-design-vs-target-and-disney/

https://prezi.com/y0yvwmf05m1p/modern-dog-design-vs-target-corporation/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/modern-dog-design-company-lawsuit_n_1882559.html