6Dec/1014
Here, kitty, kitty…
I was browsing svpply the other day when I came across this poster being sold by Mini & Maximus. I thought it looked far too familiar to a hard-to-forget Le Gun cover from 2008. What do you guys think? Which came first, the kitty or the kitty?
The original LE GUN Cover, 2008:
The Mini & Maximus print:
UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Owen who pointed out that the Le Gun cover is a copy as well, from a vintage advertisement for Black Cat Virginia Cigarettes.
It's obvious, especially in the eyes, that the Le Gun cover was drawn from this advertisement. It's still obvious from the cropping, placement of text, and orientation that the "Meow" poster is a copy of the Le Gun cover. A copy of a copy!
December 6th, 2010 - 18:06
Le Gun ‘lifted’ their cat image from the famous Black Cat tobacco poster, see it here:
http://www.oldsydneysigns.com.au/products/Black-Cat-Virginia-Cigarettes-advertising-sign.jpg
December 6th, 2010 - 21:44
see also:
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2139964&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=222021&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Relevance&pageSize=20&refinements=category~222028|222021]
December 6th, 2010 - 21:46
ack, ignore that, straight from the designer: http://illustratedpeople.com/new-in/aw10-collection/backless-jumper-cat
obviously nobody can claim ownership, but i do like an inverted black cat.
December 13th, 2010 - 10:08
le chat is fair game as it is an old advertising sign… but Top shop strikes again as having zero ideas..
December 20th, 2010 - 23:56
Not to protect topshop but use your brain thats from illustrated peoples, a company topshop stocks, not a topshop brand itself
December 23rd, 2010 - 13:40
i hate this you thought we wouldn’t notice it is so sanctimonious and boring
December 29th, 2010 - 23:34
The meow poster is more original, at least he didn’t actually trace the image like the other did. And he added to it, which is something the Le Gun image didn’t. I’d say of it all Le Gun is the one to be frowned upon more.
This being said, no one own the copyright for the idea of putting a cat picture without showing anything other than the eyes, or for putting an image of a cat upside down, so I’d say the meow poster is totally in the clear, and the Le Gun one sucks for having traced from another, which is immoral. But would be hard to sue for considering it’s just a detail that can be readily identified, and there wouldn’t be much to win anyway and make it worth suing.
December 30th, 2010 - 20:07
It’s a fucking cat.
I don’t see what the problem is.
January 3rd, 2011 - 14:14
I completely disagree with Miranda – to use an out-of-copyright image and manipulate it in a certain way and add type etc takes a certain amount of original thought, no matter how ‘accurate’ the ‘tracing’ is, it is a graphic idea in itself.
Apparently this is quite a striking one as it’s been ripped off loads!
Whatever the actual thing is, I think that to spot someone’s visual idea somewhere (which has obviously happened here – Le Gun magazine is distributed worldwide, plus they sold posters of it and t-shirts with someone like Duffer of St George or Paul Smith) and to just copy it outright is not only lame but depressing, I mean can’t people come up with their own shit.
January 6th, 2011 - 10:41
I really hate to tell you all this, being an artist myself, but the copyright law states that if you take an image and change it only so slightly, then that image becomes yours. Unfortunately, you also have the burden of proof on you if you take someone to court over a copyright theft! Where do you suppose that old saying came from, “don’t try to reinvent the wheel”! It’s unfortunate but, I know there’s a lot of piracy going on out here and it really stinks to high heaven but… what can you do. Remember, burden of proof! I’ve had many ideas and images stolen from me. Don’t have the money to take all of them to court time after time though.
January 6th, 2011 - 10:46
Oh, also, I looked at the LE GUN, THE MEOW AND THE BLACK CAT CIGARETTES ads, and as similar as they all are to one another, they are different! I’m just saying! Look at how everything we have on this earth goes around or comes back into play or style just with a slight twist! It’s crazy but…it happens! I’m just giving out food for thought. We all get our inspiration from somewhere, whether it’s something we saw, heard, smelled, touched etc. No we don’t just blatantly copy them but, we use what we can to achieve the results we’re looking for… don’t we???
January 6th, 2011 - 10:47
Oh, also, I looked at the LE GUN, THE MEOW AND THE BLACK CAT CIGARETTES ads, and as similar as they all are to one another, they are different! I’m just saying! Look at how everything we have on this earth goes around or comes back into play or style just with a slight twist! It’s crazy but…it happens! I’m just giving out food for thought. We all get our inspiration from somewhere, whether it’s something we saw, heard, smelled, touched etc. No we don’t just blatantly copy them but, we use what we can to achieve the results we’re looking for… don’t we???
January 20th, 2011 - 16:29
The Le Gun one is striking and beautiful. All the other ones are shit.
January 22nd, 2011 - 17:00
I totally agree with burner. The Le Gun cat was indeed taken from a tobacco advert which was from over 50 years ago and, thus, out of copywrite and when they launched the Le Gun issue 4 with that cover, they also exhibited the original advert alongside their cat image as a nod to the original. The image was of huge popularity and the tshirts and posters sold out fast. What these other people have done is to outright copy what Le Gun have done because they reproduced the original image in such a clever way that has proven successful and, thus, it is the idea these people have stolen, not the image. Plus, I agree with Dominik the meow print is utterly distasteful and tacky where as the Le Gun print is striking and beautiful.