12位艺术家控诉Zara抄袭

至少有十二位独立艺术家控诉该西班牙零售商盗用了自己的设计，其中一位女性艺术家图斯黛伊·贝森（Tuesday Bassen）已正式起诉该公司。这位27岁的插画师此前曾经与Urban Outfitters和耐克等多个品牌有过合作。她指控Zara未经允许或未支付报酬，盗用了自己的四幅原创艺术作品。

今年早些时候，有数百位粉丝询问贝森是否正在与Zara合作，还是Zara抄袭了她的作品，那时候她才注意到这个问题。她通过律师联系了Zara公司，但得到的答复却是：

你的代理人声称的设计缺乏独特性，因此很难判断大多数人会如何将这些标志与图斯黛伊·贝森联系在一起。这是我们的观点，而且我们已经充分注意到了你让我们注意的第三方通知。最后一点请注意，这些通知仅有少量的投诉；考虑到全世界每个月有成百上千万的用户在访问各自的房展（Zara：去年的平均月度访问量为98,000,000次，Bershka：去年的平均月度访问量为15,000,000次），通过这些数据可以非常清晰地看透这些为数不多的通知。

贝森对此的理解是，他们拒绝了自己的版权主张，原因是她是一个小艺术家，而Zara及其姊妹品牌则拥有成百上千万的客户。她对《财富》杂志（Fortune）表示：“这对艺术家的生活有巨大的影响。我要以此为生，但他们却故意盗用我的作品，稀释我的品牌。”

另外一位声称作品被盗用的设计师亚当·库尔茨（Adam Kurtz），制作了一幅图，将Zara的商品与独立艺术家的作品进行了对比。大图代表小设计师们的原创艺术作品，右上角的图片则是Zara涉嫌抄袭的设计。

While at least a dozen indie artists are claiming that the Spanish retailer has stolen their designs, one woman in particular, Tuesday Bassen, has filed an official complaint with the company. The 27-year-old illustrator, who has previously worked with brands like Urban Outfitters and Nike, has accused Zara of appropriating four pieces of her original artwork without permission or compensation.

Bassen became aware of the issue early this year when hundreds of her fans reached out to her asking whether she was collaborating with Zara or if the company had plagiarized her work. When she got in touch with the company through a lawyer, they responded with the following:

The lack of distinctiveness of your client’s purported designs makes it very hard to see how a significant part of the population anywhere would associate the signs with Tuesday Bassen. This is our firm view, and being fully aware of the 3rd party notifications that you have brought to our attention. In this last regard, please note that such notifications amount to a handful of complaints only; when it is borne in mind that millions of users worldwide visit the respective websites monthly (Zara: 98,000.000 average monthly visits last year, Bershka: 15.000.000 average monthly visits last year), the figures clearly put those few notifications into sharp perspective.

Bassen interpreted this to mean that they have rejected her copyright claims because she is a small artist while Zara and its sister brands have millions of customers. “It has an awful impact on the livelihood of an artist,” she told Fortune. “This is how I support myself, and they are diluting my brand by literally stealing from me.”

Adam Kurtz, another designer whose work has allegedly been copied, produced a graphic comparing Zara’s products to those of indie artists. The larger photos show original artwork by the smaller designers, while the pictures in the upper right hand corners show Zara’s supposed recreations.

贝森也制作了一幅图，将自己原创的四个设计，与Zara的相关产品进行了对比。

Bassen also created a graphic showing four of her original designs next to the Zara products in question.

威利·瑞恩的律师詹姆斯·华莱士认为，由于信息有限，贝森的主张是“没有根据的。”他认为，这些短语和形状属于公有领域，这些设计的相似度不足以支持版权侵犯主张。

但弗罗斯特·布朗·托德的律师梅丽莎·科恩却并不同意。她告诉《财富》杂志：“单独来看，我能明白为什么Zara会声称它们没有独特性。但我认为你需要换一个角度，你要将橡皮和文字看成一个整体，包括颜色、角度等。”

虽然某些形状或短语不会受到保护，但这些元素的组合却可以让贝森的诉求更有可信度。而且考虑到贝森指控Zara抄袭了一系列设计而不是一款设计，这将让她对该零售商的指控更有说服力。

贝森对《财富》杂志表示，她计划继续起诉，并补充道：“我希望起诉的结果之一是，让更多人意识到这种情况经常发生，但很少有艺术家能够承担维护权利的成本。”

《财富》杂志联系了Zara母公司Inditex，寻求其对此事的意见。他们的回复是：

Inditex对所有艺术家和设计师的创造力，怀有深深的敬意，并且对于所有有关第三方知识产权的主张都会认真对待。最近，图斯黛伊·贝森的律师联系了Inditex，称发现在外部采购的部分徽章以及集团店铺内的服装上使用了贝森的插画设计。公司立即对此事展开了调查，并将部分物品暂停销售。Inditex的法律团队也尽快与图斯黛伊·贝森的律师取得了联系，澄清和解决了相关问题。（财富中文网）

作者：Michal Addady

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

James Wallace, attorney with Wiley Rein, says that based on this limited information Bassen’s claims are “baseless.” He argues that certain phrases and shapes are public domain, and the designs simply aren’t similar enough to claim copyrightinfringement.

Melissa Kern, an attorney at Frost Brown Todd, disagrees. “Individually looking at them, I could see where Zara could take the position that they’re not distinctive,” she told Fortune. “But I think you could take a contrary position if you look at the eraser with the text as a whole, the coloring, angle.”

While certain shapes or phrases can’t be protected, it’s the combination of all those components that give Bassen’s claims credibility. And considering the fact that she’s accusing Zara of copying a collection of pieces and not just one design, a case against the retailer could be that much stronger.

Bassen told Fortune that she plans to pursue this case further, adding, “I hope that one outcome is that I can raise awareness for how often this happens and how few artists can actually afford to pursue it.”

Fortune reached out to Inditex, Zara’s parent company, for a comment, and they responded with the following:

Inditex has the utmost respect for the individual creativity of all artists and designers and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously. Inditex was recently contacted by Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers who noted the use of illustrations in some badges sourced externally and on clothes in its Group stores. The Company immediately opened an investigation into the matter and suspended the relevant items from sale. Inditex’s legal team is also in contact with Tuesday Bassen’s lawyers to clarify and resolve the situation as swiftly as possible.