The Mary Sue: At DragonCon last month, a couple of cosplayers decided to sidestep the usual fare of superheroes and cartoon characters in favor of dressing up as the carpet at the Marriott hotel where the con takes place. Yup, there was carpet-colored camo. That is a real thing that now exists. Naturally, other people wanted to emulate the design, but, alas, this psychedelic carpet army was not to be – because Courtisan Inc., the company that designed the original rug, issued a Cease and Desist soon after the design went up.
11 comments:
This is so funny that this article even made it on our blog because it doesn't have a huge importance. I love the concept of this out of the box idea and it's really funny that people accused them of copyright. It's a costume that looks similar to a carpet, so there is no way that someone can accuse them of copyright. The way in which this couple went about designing and constructing the costumes is impeccable. I say go for it and do anything as crazy you want.
This is pretty awesome and I love it! I think it is quite hilarious personally. So does the carpet company just want their cut of the profits or are they insulted that someone made camo carpet clothing. Either one I am not sure of and really do not care. Copy right, it is becoming a very crazy and ridiculous world out there. Everyone wants there cut. and I will in turn give them a hard time until the day comes I think of a brilliant idea and then someone copies me. Well we will have to wait and see, but doesn't every know that all of my ideas are brilliant!!
That carpet camouflage really works. What an interesting legal issue to face. It is interesting to look at this article next to the Cultural Trust Rubber Duck snafu. The image at the top of the article is actually a real pleasure to look at. I am impressed with the costumes that they built, and this that the carpet company is just a little silly for the decision they made. Understandable, but silly...
Although this may not qualify as fair-use because it is not for criticism or educational purposes, it does seem that the innovative way in which they used the pattern should be embraced. It doesn't seem that the artists are profiting financially from the carpet designer's idea but rather reinterpreting it for a new purpose, as we often do in theatre design as part of our research process.
This made my night! I think it is fantastic how Volpin Props took an object that everyone takes for granted and made it into something usable. It makes me wonder how long it has been since that rug received any attention. Poor rug. This article also reminded me how ugly hotel rugs are. My favorite part of the article was when people showed "expressions of surprise that anyone would admit to having designed such an ugly carpet." It also brings up how ridiculous some copyright issues are. In music, we see that the song "Happy Birthday" is copyrighted, even though the owner of those rights most likely stole the melody/lyrics from a previous artist. In art, we see artists inspired by previous artists. No opinion or idea is authentic. Humans live off of each other's ideas. We have never been and never will be original. By being inspired by the past, we are able to move forward. So let's deflate our egos and continue forward.
Part of the problem, which the article doesn't really mention at all, is that the Cease and Desist order was handed down not because of copyright issues involved in the cosplaying of the carpet, but because the cosplayers then attempted to sell the carpet pattern to other interested cosplayers. So, the cease and desist and related copyright issues are less ridiculous then the article made it sound. I'm not entirely sure if cosplaying itself is a breach of copyright.
This is a pretty funny article but I totally understand where the carpet company is coming from on this. If it was just one cosplayer who imitated the design it would be fine, but once Volpin put the design up for anyone to access that crossed the line. Even though the pattern was just being used for making costumes and not recreating the carpet in other places, its still violating copyright. I'd be interested in seeing how this might effect other cosplayers in the future.
I hate copy right laws sometimes. This costume was a genius idea, I wish the company that made them hadn't got in trouble. As far as I see it, if the company that designed the carpet was planning on making money by selling their carpet design as a costly costume, then yes they have reason to be mad. But they weren't because they're a carpet company. I do think it would have been smart for them to inform the prop company that they designed the carpet and would like some sort of compensation but I think preventing them from making further iterations of the the costume was an wrong. That said, there were in their place to make that decision.
This is so clever! I think the carpet costumes are a hilarious and really cool idea. I was sort of surprised that Courtisan Inc would issue a cease and disist over this. It isn't taking anything away from the carpet by making these costumes, its actually adding something by drawing attention to it. Its really awesome that Volpin Props took inspiration from something so ordinary. Even though the cease and disist is ridiculous, Props was a really good sport about it. I give him a lot of credit for accepting authority even when I would consider them to be wrong.
Couple of firsts for me here. Never heard of Dragon*Con until now - not that I think that information will change my life much (how many "Cons" are we up to now?). Nor will the revelation that Couristan Inc. (not "Courtisan Inc." as reported in the article - intentional?) designed the admittedly ugly rug gracing the floor of the Atlanta Marriott lobby. And really that's the story here, the fact that some big dumb corporation isn't ecstatic that someone had a creative impulse and drew attention to their ugly rug. Or aren't they? I almost wonder if the whole cease and desist order wasn't just a ploy by their marketing department to get some cheap advertising in the papers. I'm guessing a civil court filing in the great state of Georgia is significantly less expensive than a half page in the Journal-Constitution. Would it be considered fraud if it turned out Couristan actually made the cammo and paid these poor patsies to crawl around on their rug? CarpetGate is born. If only there was a superhero who fought the evil minions of specious litigation, there might be a nice story arc here. Someone could dress as him or her at the next Whatever*Con and really blow the other "cosplayers" off the ugly carpet (still don't know what a "cosplay" is, although I have to admit it sounds more like something one might encounter at the Clermont Hotel rather than the Marriott - don't look it up, trust me).
I love the costumes. I think it is ridiculous for the company to issue a cease and desist over the costume. The whole point of cosplay is dressing up as characters that entertain you. Generally this is done with out the expressed permission of the rightsholders for these characters. If someone wants to dress as your carpet for the convention, let them. All it does is draw more attention to your designs.
Post a Comment