Copying Christopher Wool’s Idea

Sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids, sell t-shirts! ArtFCity reporting that Joe Fresh is “ripping off” Christopher Wool, and finding the riffing “problematic.”

But is the copying really “problematic”? Remember, ideas are not protected by copyright, so not much fanfare here. Seems that what is being copied is the idea of stencil-letter wording in grid format, but not a direct Christopher Wool. To argue that Joe Fresh t-shirts are derivative works would mean that no one could ever paint stenciled address numbers on the front of their houses or stenciled words on shipping crates and containers. Silly, I know.

Sorry kids, no copyright infringement here.

Tags: art, Christopher Wool, Copyright, derivative work, fair use, idea versus fixation, law, t-shirts, text