3 Count: Graffiti Shirts

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1: Street Artists Accuse Guess of Using Their Tags in New Lawsuit

First off today, Adam Schrader at Artnet reports that Danish artist Robin Ronn and the estate of artist Sean Griffin have filed a lawsuit against Guess and the department store Macy’s alleging copyright infringement of their art on t-shirts that the companies sold.

According to the lawsuit, Guess used tags created by the artists and printed them on tshirts that were later sold at Macy’s stores. The duo claim that the infringement is especially egregious considering that Banksy had previously called out Guess for similar behavior, meaning the company should have been on notice.

In addition to the copyright infringement, the two artists are also claiming that the association harms their reputation, with the risk of being seen as “corporate sellouts” when they didn’t authorize the work.

2: Government Needs to “Urgently Reconsider” Approach to Copyright and AI, Says Culture Committee Chair

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Compute Music Update reports that, in the United Kingdom, the chair of the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee in the UK Parliament, MP Caroline Dinenage, has released a statement calling on the government to “reconsider” its approach to generative AI.

The statement comes amidst a breakdown in talks between government, content creators and AI companies. The three sides were working on a voluntary set of guidelines for how AI systems would use copyright-protected work but those negotiations have fallen apart.

Dinenage has sasid that creative industries are suffering right now and that the situation requires quick action from government to address these issues. She further adds that “woolly words” from other ministers don’t help creators, whose works are being used without permission or compensation right now.

3: BBC Issues Copyright Warning to Glenrothes Bar Over Bluey Breakfast Event

Finally today, Ben MacDonald at The Courier reports that, in the United Kingdom, a Glenrothes bar has been given a warning letter from the BBC over a planned event that would feature the cartoon character Bluey.

The letter was shared by the bar itself on Facebook, where the BBC warned that, “or the avoidance of doubt, neither BBC Studios or Ludo Studio has given permission to the Foxton Bar and Grill for its intellectual property rights in Bluey to be used to promote meet and greet events with unlicensed Bluey costumes.”

The appearance was planned as part of a “Breakfast with Disney and Friends” event to be held February 24 and 25. The bar has said that they may “replace Bluey with another dog, that happens to be blue.” The BBC has not commented on the story.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.