Costumes, Copyright Lawsuits, and Dreadful Hotel Carpet Designs

Our good friend, Matthew Strugar, sends this interesting and somewhat absurd copyright news our way.

I’m sitting in a hotel room with a less-than-stellar carpet below my feet. Why is this of interest? Well, did you ever stop and wonder whether the designs on a carpet are protected by copyright? Right, neither did I.

Boing Boing reports that the carpet designer for a Marriott Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia sent some gamers a cease and desist letter concerning their alleged copyrights. What? Yes. Seems like the gamers created costumes that were based on the design of hotel’s carpet. Take a look at this link and you’ll see what I mean.

This is absurd. Were the gamers selling the costumes for commercial profit? Is this something that the carpet company would sell for profit (costumes based on their bland designs)? What do you think?