H&M Accused of Stealing a Local Atlanta Artist's Work

[dan75robot]

this is why i myself being an artist have an awesome idea that could be made into an actual product but willl never share it cause our government is corrupt and unjust! just loook at wall street and also how they tried to strip workers of their rights "scott walker"

[MsAllnaturalbeauty]

People will still buy from h&m, they are a rich enough to buy the slogan anyway. If the original creator cared that much she would have got it copyrighted. point blank period. At the end of the day, who cares!!! There are bigger, more important things in this world to analyze and worry about !!!!!

[himick0]

I still love H&M and I agree with you 100%!

[cherrypop8059]

Loving your contacts :) nd yeah tbh I agree with you about the whole h&m thing :)

[tigrrlilli]

Wow, way to victim blame, everyone. It's the artist's fault for not being more careful? I don't think so. It might have been smarter to sign it or whatever, but that doesn't make her responsible for someone else deciding to take her design. Note: they didn't just use the same phrase; they copied the way it looked almost exactly.

[moselistaselena]

makeup tutorial please this look looks amazing on you x

[MissT235]

As a designer myself at first I was disgraced by H&M and felt compensation should be given. HOWEVER if the artist did not copyright it then that's her own fault, she will learn from her mistake and copyright her work in future! All she needed to do was put the copyright logo, her name and date to make sure her work was covered. It's her own fault, anyone can steal her idea with out intellectual property cover it just happened to be a well know company.

[AvaKisses07]

I still love H&M!

[sparklefunbeauty]

I think H&M should compensate the artist as a good will gesture as with todays economy any bad publicity now a days is noted around the world and in the long run the company will not profit as much from this line without some sort of payout! it would be more for the public then the artist.

[bellesalvia]

If the original art was found on a scrap of paper with no copyright, its free for all. But a billboard? H&M may have the law on their side but the laws that get passed do not necessarily stand for what is right. For all who disagree, do you know that the US military can now pick up and imprison anyone including US citizens from anywhere around the world for mere suspicion of terrorism without telling you why or trial in court - National Defense Authorization Act just passed December 31, 2011?

[Hellzap0ppin]

it's total art theft imo...

[76lucky76]

i dnt think it wuld be possible for some1 to claim the phrase "You look nice today". Ppl say it all the time. It was just a phrase w/ a heart, So legally the local artist doesn't really hv a case. However-i think its pretty crappy for a big company (who already has enuf $) to intentionally steal ideas from "the little guy" Companies get strted bcuz some1 has a great idea or product-they need 2 come up w thr own designs & if they cnt-they eithr need to step aside or pay some1 2 b creative 4 them

[bobtinklesnews]

When you make art work you won't have to copywrite it you automatically own it if h&m could not find out who made it then they shouldn't have used it

[enzomatrix]

its the copyright issue that will screw her but as far as the company goes they should have done the research to see who owned it but they didnt care theft like that happens alot in all sorts of industries. anything you create and put out there you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself from theft. btw is that your natural eye color theyre standing out alot more in this video than others.

[cuteangel545]

However simple this may logo may seem, its still stealing. They have done this before with more complex things. They will always alter it a bit to get away with it legaly. As an artist my self I think its horrible, because If your not well off, and you see someone making alot of money for what you did. It sucks.

[beautiijunkii]

I disagree. They didn't know who the artist was, but they knew they didn't didn't do it! They knew it wasn't them that came up with the design. If they couldn't contact the original artist, why use it?

[spacerebellion]

I agree with you if she didn't copyright or claim it personally then she is not intitled to compensation... for all we know she could have taken that design from someone else's similar artwork who did not have it copywritten... If it was a big deal she should have gotten the copy right before it was too late

[bishie08]

they still stole somebody else's work which is wrong whether she put her name on it or not. Indeed, it's not like they knew who to credit so they couldn't compensate her (and even if she put her name next to it, they probably would have taken it anyway no?). But I guess now they do know and they should do something about bit imo

[Olahh444]

juicystar07 gave you a shout out in her haul video !!! x

[SWEETHEART0518]

I aqree with you(:

[AdOrAvAnG]

It is so simple, the slogan I mean. It's just like Paris Hilton trying to make the saying "That's Hott" her signature line. It's obviously just 2 of the most simplest words put together. "You Look Nice Today" could have been easily made up by anyone! And you're right Daisy - she did not claim credits to any of her 'work' so therefore it's anyone's freedom to use as well. I don't think H&M did wrong entirely. Hate it or Love it that's my opinion.

[daiserz89]

@AdOrAvAnG yeah i agree with you! I feel like H&M does a lot worse with sweatshops and exploiting the workers than the local artist. i mean what they didn't wasn't right, but the hate they are getting is ridiculous

[Klovesings]

I agree with you Daisy. The balanced outlook is that H&M was wrong for doing what they did. But on the other side of the coin, That local artist should be smart enough to know that you should always sign and/or have a professional trademark or copyright for every piece of art you do, especially public work, or internet images. As a professional working artist, I know this. Also, the same thing happened to my sister, who is also an artist. This is a good lesson for the arts community to learn.

[daiserz89]

@Klovesings interesting. She probably didn't know that a big company would take it

[beautifulmakeupbyme]

That's crazy they can't just take an idea from another person no matter what

[daiserz89]

@beautifulmakeupbyme ideas are ideas... it's all about execution :)

[MargaritaLuvz733]

I really don't like those negative comments toward anyone and I agree with the person below me... Give her credit now that they know.

[tielpo20]

They shouldn't have taken it at all. There's tons of different ideas they could come up with. They would have done just fine without that logo on their merchandise.

[vtwilight]

I think that is really, just LOW, for h&m to just randomly do something like this, they can't just be impulsive

[Dreamduff515]

I agree with you on SO many levels, but I believe that H&M should give her credit now that they know...(:

[MeFromMirrorToWorld]

FIRST COMMENT!