OMG! Rutgers Beats UCONN 28-24 in Halloween THRILLER

If I didn't see it, I wouldn't believe it. Rutgers held a 21-10 lead on Connecticut going into the fourth quarter, only to squander the lead and find themselves trailing UCONN 24-21 with 38 seconds to go.

Then after the ensuing kickoff Rutgers freshman quarterback Tom Savage hit Tim Brown, the best friend of slain UCONN cornerbck Jasper Howard, for an 81 yard touchdown to snatch victory from UCONN, 28-24 in front a stunned packed house in Hartford.

Rutgers is now 6-2, 1-2 in the Big East, UCONN 4-4, 1-3 Big East.

Wow!

I'll be back to tall about this thriller, plus more Big East, college football, and World Series tomorrow in my weekly Rutgers commentary.

What a game!

Halloween Bonus: Zombie Pinup

Back in September I posted Little Dead Riding Hood, courtesy of Amy, who I met in Penn Station.

Amy has a new tattoo, which she generously shared:


It's a zombie pin-up girl, and appropriate for the holiday today.

Like the previous piece, this was created by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks again to Amy for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Have a safe and ghoulishly fun Halloween!

Happy Halloween....with "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN"!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!

If Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein is not the funniest movie ever made, I'd like to know what is. I think it was especially effective if you were a fan of the old Boris Karloff/ Bela Lugosi classics from UNIVERSAL in the 1930's and '40's. Mel Brooks went so far as to use the actual sets and props from the first two films of the series, FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, which starred Karloff and was directed by James Whale.

I couldn't get through the scene with the monster meeting the blind man without laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes....for the 100th time possibly!

So here's my little holiday treat for you intrepid visitors...three classic scenes from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, featuring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, and Madeline Kahn.....and the blind hermit was played by none other than two time Oscar winner Gene Hackman.











Dr. Frankenstein (exasperated, speaking to Igor)-"DAMN YOUR EYES!!!"
Igor..... "TOO LATE!!!!"

The national touring company of the stage version of Young Frankenstein is in Columbus, Ohio this weekend, and moves on to Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Check the website for exact dates.

"That's Franken-STEEN"!

Bob Mulcahy Addresses The Rutgers TOUCHDOWN CLUB

I wanted to talk about this earlier but one World Series game (and a dose of real life) managed to jump in and keep me away from the keyboard for most of today. Last night at the Rutgers Touchdown Club meeting held at The RAC in Piscataway, NJ, former Rutgers Athletic director Bob Mulcahy spoke to the group, about 10 months after he was fired by Rutgers President Richard McCormick.

Bob Mulcahy received much criticism for lack of transparency in his administration, and became, in my opinion (and that of many others in the community), a sacrificial lamb fired to appease certain people of influence who were stirred up by a couple of overzealous writers from New Jersey's largest daily newspaper. Rather than rehash the whole story for the uninitiated, click here to see the dozen blog posts I wrote about the situation involving Bob, the paper, and President McCormick through last fall and into the winter of 2008-09.

Last night Bob Mulcahy told his story to the 500 or so assembled at The RAC. According to Bob he was called into McCormick's office last December, shortly before Christmas. McCormick told Mulcahy that he wanted to make a change at the top of the Department of Athletics; he wanted Mulcahy to resign. Bob refused to resign, and told McCormick that he would have to fire him.

A short time later Mulcahy called McCormick and offered this solution; he would retire at the end of the year. That would have been the logical way to handle a transition from one AD to his successor. But McCormick refused.

Bob Mulcahy talked about some of his favorite moments as athletic director of Rutgers. Clearly THE magical moment was the football win against #3 Louisville on national TV, a game ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit called college football's game of the year in 2006. Bob mentioned Rutgers first bowl game in 28 years, the 2005 INSIGHT BOWL in Phoenix as another highlight, and the warm reception given to the RU fans who had waited so long for that day. Bob told the story about being on the sidelines at last year's PAPA JOHN'S.COM BOWL when Rutgers safety Courtney Greene intercepted a crucial fourth quarter pass from the North Carolina State quarterback. Devin McCourty told Greene to "Give the ball to Mr. Mulcahy". Bob was already on his way out as AD- this would be his last trip with the team in that capacity. Greene gave the ball the Mulcahy. Later the team autographed the ball for him.

But....this ball belonged to North Carolina State! It had their logo on it. Mulcahy sent a check for $100 to NC State Head Coach Tom O'Brien. Coach O'Brien sent the check back, with a note saying "I can't take your money. You've given too much to the game."

Mulcahy told the story about the time his daughter Deidre was asked out on a date by Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart. Deidre asked for permission to date a guy from the football team. And its been said Ryan asked head coach Greg Schiano for permission to date the AD's daughter!

Well...it worked. Today Deidre and Ryan are man and wife.

Bob talked about the APR rating of the Rutgers football team, the Academic Progress Report from the NCAA that measures the classroom performance of student athletes. For the past several years Rutgers has finished in the top five with the likes of Navy, Duke, Stanford, and Air Force- they are currently the top rated public university APR wise for football, doing it while going to four straight bowl games and winning three.

In his tenure there were championships in track and in baseball- and the women's basketball team went to two Final fours, and advanced to the National Championship game once.

His hardest decision was to cut six sports that the university could no longer afford to keep funding. The worst part, he said, was telling the student athletes that their teams were to be no more.

Another highlight was the improvements in facilities, particularly the new end zone seating at Rutgers Stadium, increasing the capacity from 42,000 to 53,000- this was a pipe dream back in the days of 19,000 people per game (and he admitted to boosting the number a bit).

There was the revelation by Rutgers assistant coach Joe Susan that Bob would attend Mass before every game, with Joe always sitting in front of him, out of superstition. And there was a member of the audience who stood up and chided the current politicians who never lifted a finger to help Mulcahy during the crisis and the firestorm; the man told the crowd former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne once called Bob Mulcahy the most decent man in politics he had ever seen.

How well regarded was Bob Mulcahy? He was an aide to Democrat Byrne, and was retained by Byrne's successor, Republican Tom Kean, as his chief of staff.

Bob admitted that the end hurt him...but it was especially tough on his wife, Terri, and on his children.

He deserved better. Few have given more to the university. Even fewer have been shown the way out more shabbily.

Bob was given a small trophy with a Waterford crystal football at the end of the presentation, with a life time membership in the Rutgers Touchdown Club. It was more than fitting.

This was a night when Bob Mulcahy spoke to us, and thanked us for all of the years of support. That wasn't necessary. It was we, the fans, who owe Bob Mulcahy thanks. It was his vision that brought an untested young head coach to The Banks in 2001.

Together they changed a culture....and helped to change a state.

Cape Verde gets its priorities right

The Designs (Convention Countries) (Amendment) Order 2009 (SI 2009/2747) coming into force on 12 November 2009, adds Cape Verde to the lists of Convention countries from which priority may be claimed in the UK.
For more background, see David Pearce's page on s13 f the Registered Designs Act 1949, on the Design Law Wiki.

OHIM e-filing update

We covered the improved RCD online filing system earlier this year. Since then, we learned at the last e-Business User Group meeting, OHIM have made some improvements, and more are on the way. Improvements which are already with us are:

• Removal of the maximum number of designs in an e-filed multiple application;
• Multiple image file upload - you can upload all the image files for one design in one hit now, rather than having to do so one at a time;
• "Image editing" - I don't know what this covers, can anyone enlighten us?

On the way is a "save draft" option, allowing you to save a design for a few days (at present you only have a couple of hours). That will allow approval by supervising attorneys or clients - very welcome.

Choose the Right Tattoo

Matt has twenty-three (23) tattoos and he offered up this simple trio of letters:
The CTR represents the expression "Choose the Right," a common thread in the ideology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly referred to as the Mormon church.

In essence, Matt explained, it means "follow the right path". Its akin to a mantra eschewing sinful activities frowned upon by the church like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and, yup, you guessed it: getting tattooed.

Matt finds great power in this tattoo because it represents an oxymoron: the letters CTR stand for a way of life that is contradicted by the fact that they have been tattooed on flesh. It would be like a Jewish person having the phrase, in Hebrew, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or imprint markings upon you: I am the Lord" tattooed on them. As a tattooed Mormon, this is Matt's way of addressing,and coming to terms with, the disparity between faith and his love of tattoos.

This was tattooed by a friend of his in Ogden, Utah.

Thanks to Matt for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

"Hands off my design", OHIM-style

Click www.handsoffmydesign.com and the web page on your screen should resolve to the regrettably less memorable http://oami.europa.eu/t4t/rw/pages/index.en.do#-. There you will be treated to a new OHIM experience,

"e-Learning about European Union Design Protection:

For the designers of the future!!

LOG ON TO SEE THE CONTENTS!!".

It's good to see that, despite the recession, there's still no shortage of exclamation marks in Alicante. It's also good to know that, while your clients are reading all the technical stuff about design protection on Class 99, their children can be learning about BOBLES: WHEN YOU HAVE A GOOD PRODUCT YOU WILL BE COPIED! and PLAGIARIUS - THE PRIZE YOU DON'T WANT TO WIN! (yes, more exclamation marks -- mainly stolen from Joop!, I suspect). There's a Games Zone, a Teachers' Zone and a Students' Zone too. Well done OHIM. Or should that be Well Done!! OHIM!! ...?

Yanks Even Series Behind Burnett and Rivera, 3-1

The New York Yankees won the second game of the 2009 World Series behind the strong pitching of starter AJ Burnett beating the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1, with Mariano Rivera coming in to pitch scoreless 8th and 9th innings. Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui hit solo home runs 4th and 6th innings respectively after trailing the Phils 1-0 to that point. Pinch hitter Jorge Posada tacked on another run in the 7th, driving in Jerry Hairston, who was starting in rightfield in place of Nick Swisher, with a single.

Burnett and Phillie starter Pedro Martinez dueled into the 7th when Pedro was pulled by Phils manager Charlie Manuel for Chan Ho Park.

Burnett was great, pitching 7 innings, giving up one run on only four hits with nine strikeouts and only two walks.

The evened up Series moves to Philadelphia on Saturday night for Game Three, with Andy Pettitte starting for New York, and Cole Hamels for the Phils.

Are lawyers' letters protectable as designs?

It takes a craftsman to recognise a craftsman. ACID member Porta Romana recently gained satisfaction in its claim that Dutch company Maretti was selling what appeared to be copies of their sculptured ribbon wall lights and table lamps, without the hassle of a court appearance. Following the settlement, ACID CEO Dids Macdonald said:

“Taking legal action is not necessarily going all the way to Court. Often, as in this case, a series of well crafted legal letters before action can achieve positive results in a timely manner.”

Class 99 wonders whether the generous scope of protection conferred under Community design law is broad enough to embrace "well crafted legal letters", regardless of their functionality in achieving the desired results. Assuming that there's no problem with novelty and individual character, that is. After all, Article 3 of Regulation 6/2002 provides that

"(a) "design" means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation;

(b) "product" means any industrial or handicraft item, ... packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces ...".

Could be, don't you think?

Shiri's Logos

"Excuse me," I called, loudly, on the 34th Street train platform, "Can I ask you about your tattoo?"

Anyone reading this who has been featured here may recognize this as my opening salvo. Most people are open to my questions. Very few dismiss me. For this I am thankful.

Shira was the woman to whom I was speaking, and she was very welcoming to my inquiries.

Here is the best of the many tattoos I saw she had:


It's a fairly intricate (and extremely well-done) replica for one of the album designs for a band named Sponge. Shiri had a matching t-shirt, but taking a picture of that would have been borderline creepy, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the only image online I could find was small:


On her left arm she had two other band designs:


The one on the right is from the group Gogol Bordello, which surprised me as I had seen a similar tattoo several weeks before (and recounted here).


The logo on the left was from a group called Spookey Ruben.

Obviously, Shiri is a big fan of all these groups. The tattoos were all inked by her brother Ron.

You can see other band-related tattoos by clicking on the appropriate tag at the bottom of the post.

Thanks to Shiri for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

"You Gotta Go There to Come Back": Sarah Shares Three Tattoos

Sarah's half-sleeve jumped out at me in Penn Station as I was quietly bemoaning cooler weather and the dwindling of my blog backlog.

I was pleased to find Sarah more than accommodating, as she shared several perspectives of the ink tattooed on her upper right arm.

Visiting from Newcastle, Australia, her tattoos revolved around this piece at the center of her bicep:


I asked if there was any significance to these two women, but Sarah noted that they were just two pretty girls.

This fluid script is on the outside of her arm:


It states "You gotta go there to come back..." or, in her words, you have to "understand how shitty it can be, before how good it can get".

On her inner arm is the following tattoo:


Sarah says that this design of an angel on a cigarette break is based on the work of a popular London graffiti artist named "Banksy".


All of her work was done by Pat, the owner of 2012 Tattoo Studio in Newcastle.

Thanks very much to Sarah for sharing her incredible tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

OHIM Tweets

OHIM joined Twitter yesterday, and this Class 99-er became its 99th follower. Search for OHIM or OHIMTWEETS on Twitter to see a stream of more-or-less useful information. They are also on Youtube, according to their announcement yesterday.

Hang the DJ

I met Rohan on a Brooklyn-bound A train.

He has "thirteen or fourteen" tattoos, and he offered up this one from his right arm:


The phrase "Hang the DJ" refers to lyrics sung by Morrissey when he was with The Smiths.

I was only on the train with him for two stops, so I didn't get a full explanation of the tattoo until later, when Rohan e-mailed me:

I got this tattoo for several reasons - first and foremost I love The Smiths and their music changed the way I viewed myself against the social and cultural backdrop that we're all in. I thought a jukebox with the lyrics "Hang the DJ", the refrain from the song "Panic", was ironic.


The jukebox is what allows all of us to be the DJ and in "Panic", Morrissey is singing about how the music the DJ is playing means nothing to him and his life, and I share that sentiment with most of what I hear. The tattoo is sort of an encapsulation of how I feel about rock and roll and how certain bands and certain songs can, when they're really good and really honest, mean a lot more than just entertainment value.

The tattoo was inked by Dusty Neal in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently working at Donny Manco's New Republic Tattoo.

UPDATE: I exchange a few e-mails with the artist Dusty Neal after this posted and he remembered doing this tattoo very early on in his career as an artist. He wanted me to clarify this point, and to communicate that he feels that his art has developed to the point that this piece does not best represent his work as a tattooer. A look at photos of his work on MySpace here certainly showcases some amazing tattoos. Dusty encourages people to check out his current endeavors and, with all due respect to Rohan and the tattoo in this post, judge his talents based on what he has done more recently, and not early on in his career.

Thanks again to Rohan for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

As a little bonus, here is the video from "Panic" by the Smiths:

Sue and settle -- but who is the real winner?

Anti Copying in Design (ACID) is just celebrating the news that one of its members, leading contract furniture designer Morgan Contract Furniture, has resolved its claim against PTT Design Limited. Having launched High Court proceedings for design right infringement in respect of seven items of furniture design which PTT supplied to Hyatt Hotels in 2006, Morgan accepted non-infringement undertakings from PTT and its individual directors plus £65,000 towards damages and costs, following a mediated settlement.

Right: 'Como', from Morgan

As with most mediations, the commercial reality that lies behind the settlement remains unknown. Morgan and PTT had both bid for a contract with Hyatt Hotels; PTT got it ahead of Morgan. Was this an instance of an infringement that paid for itself? We may never know. However, PTT's website lists its clients, one of which is the Hyatt Churchill Hotel, London for which it provided casegoods and seating for 398 bedrooms and 40 suites. Anyone with a head for figures and a knowledge of the sector will be able to calculate who got the better deal, Morgan or PTT.

Benjamin's Amazing Viking-Geisha Sleeve by Tim Kern

Please join me as I extend a metaphor.

I approach inkblogging as if I were one of those guys that goes out on the beach with a metal detector.

You find a lot of interesting stuff and, every once in a while, you find treasure.

Earlier this month, I saw a man in front of Madison Square Garden walking south. I was headed in the opposite direction and, despite my general reluctance to post sleeves here (I wonder if I can even do them justice), I stopped and asked him to show me the amazing work on his right arm.

I should also preface this by acknowledging how awesome it is to randomly find work by a tattoo artist who is at the top of his game, and is a recognized talent in the tattoo community.

Benjamin, the guy I stopped, was visiting New York from Denmark to see his artist, Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo. He was in town to begin work on a new sleeve. Benjamin happily shared his first sleeve:


Benjamin summarized the theme of his arm by stating that life is about choices. The two extrmes are, you can take a life, as represented by the Viking warrior at the top of the shoulder:


This is juxtaposed by the geisha who is taking her own life through ritual suicide:


The detail of the blood-spattered hand holding the seppuku blade is fascinating in its stark grisliness:


The sleeve also includes stunning waterfall and pagoda elements on the inside of the arm:


I especially appreciate the beauty and shading of the pagoda:


The color and artistry of this entire sleeve are astonishing and we are honored that Benjamin consented to contributing this work to Tattoosday.

We thank him and the artist Tim Kern for their work!

Maggie, a Fan of Pink, Shares Some Ink

One of the pluses of working near Madison Square Garden is that concert-goers and fans are always about.

Occasionally, they can be found camped out near the artists' entrance on 33rd Street. The presence of fans milling about can often be great opportunities to spot tattoos, as in this case, previously.

Earlier this month, I chatted with some Pink fans out on the street and one of them, Maggie, shared her tattoos:


Maggie has nine tattoos in all, and these represent four of them.

She seemed surprised that I was interested, more so because there weren't typical "stories" behind the art.

The top piece is a tribute to her mother,

and the heart, the bands, and the angel wing are just elements she felt like adding.

I particularly like the free form of the heart design.


All work was done at Tattoo Heaven in Manhattan.

Thanks to Maggie for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Joe's Tribute to His Uncle

I spotted Joe earlier this month outside of Penn Station. He has seven or eight tattoos, and chose to share this one from his right forearm:


Joe explained that this piece is a tribute to an uncle who had passed away. He had served proudly in the United States Marine Corps and had had a skull tattoo upon which was perched a top hat.

Joe collaborated with the artist, Pepe, at The Tattoo Shop in Medford, New York, to take that idea and customize it for Joe's arm. Another tattoo from the shop appeared earlier this week here.

The whole thing took about three and a half hours to complete.

Thanks to Joe for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Serbia joins Hague

Serbia joined the Hague Agreement on International Designs on 9 September 2009, and their accession takes effect on 9 December 2009, according to WIPO's Press Release.

A Little Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I met Cristina on the R train several weeks back.

The weather was just beginning to turn cooler, and I noticed that summer had ended quickly, with no gradual diminishing of tattoo sightings, but a sudden disappearance, like shutting the light switch off in a large, bright room at midnight.

Cristina had this small, unusual tattoo on her foot:


Despite being small, I was curious to learn about this design.

Cristina explained that her husband travels a lot and that, on a whim, they each got sun tattoos while in Dallas. The designs are slightly different.


She told me her husband thought the sun tattoos were perfect for them because, he said, when they're together, he's walking on sunshine.

You can look at that as incredibly corny, incredibly romantic, or a mixture of the two. Cristina acknowledged that when she looks at her tattoo, it reminds her of what her husband said, about walking on sunshine, and that makes her laugh, which makes her happy, which can be a solace when her husband is traveling.

All from a little tattoo!

Thanks to Cristina for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Another brick in the wall?

Alicante News reports an invalidation case (ICD 5353 on the validity of RCD 150917-0004) which is interesting from two angles. Firstly, it considers whether a brick is a "component part" in the sense of the Regulation and concludes, quite rightly I think, that it is not because it cannot be assembled and disassembled - it is stuck in place by mortar. The consequence is that the design is not automatically invalid under CDR Article 4 because not visible in normal use.
That may come as a surprise to some, possibly including the French courts which have held the contrary in at least one case on building products, but is in accordance with the view that this is an anti-spare-parts provision rather than a principle of substantive design law.
Secondly, and more contentiously for me, it concludes that a disclosure by availability on the file of a German Utility Model is one which could "reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialised in the sector concerned". I personally have no problem with the view that published patents and designs would come to the attention of the circles concerned - if they don't pay attention to IP, they certainly ought to so so. But I don't think it is normal commercial practice to watch the unpublished files of applications - I recall many years back that this is how Derwent got started, in the days when the Belgians used to lay patents open early, but there was a market for their product precisely because individual companies didn't do it themselves.

Nothing to hang on to ...

Earlier this week Class 99 announced that a decision was awaited in the appeal by Virgin Atlantic v Premium Aircraft Interiors against the trial judge's dismissal of its patent and design infringement claims in respect of its Upper Class passenger seats. Since design issues took up such a great space in the original trial, it was expected that we would all benefit from some further explication of design law by the Court of Appeal for England and Wales. Sadly -- for us, that is, and not for Virgin as successful appellants -- today's appeal decision was on the patent infringement/validity issues only, so there was nothing on designs after all.

Designs "very important" says survey, but that's not news to Class 99

"Europeans consider design 'very important' for competitiveness" is the title of the front page feature of the most recent issue of the online Alicante News, released today by OHIM (you can read the issue in all its glory here). According to the article,

A new European Commission consultation on the links between design and innovation [see link below] has shown that the majority of respondents, including companies from outside the design sector [How valuable, or relevant, is their opinion?], consider that design is "very important" for the future competitiveness of the EU economy.

... Since [2003] OHIM has registered just under 400,000 designs on behalf of companies from all over the world.

The RCD has been popular since the start, showing steady annual growth right up until the current global recession. Figures for designs for the year to September show that we have received 53,000 designs, a drop of 11% compared with the same period in 2008 [Is the drop caused by the recession or are other factors also at work, such as greater awareness of unregistered design protection? It would be good to know].

The impact has been greater in some countries than others. In design-conscious Italy, RCDs are down just 7% and overall, there are recent signs that applications are starting to grow again. Design totals are still down in the second and third quarters, but not by as much as in the early part of the year.

The slower speed of recovery of design applications contrasts with the much more rapid return to 2008 levels seen in Community trade marks. CTM applications for the year, helped by strong demand in the second quarter, stand at 58,000 – just 4% down on the previous year [The differential is curious, not least because it can't easily be explained by the post-recession pick-up].

The design consultation received a total of 535 online replies from organisations and individuals. The organisations ranged from national ministries for enterprise and industry to design companies, and a range of large and small European companies.

While overall, more than 91% of respondents gave strong support for the link between design and competitiveness, almost three-quarters of the companies whose main business was outside the design sector also agreed.

When asked to describe why they believed design was so important, many referred to the necessity for Europe to compete on quality and sustainability as opposed to price [Now, why should design be equated with quality?], and the important role of design as a differentiator.

The design of products – goods, services, experiences – was considered an essential driver of technological and non-technological innovation as it increased the probability of market success, shortened time to market [How did it achieve this, one wonders] and potentially cut costs.

In terms of the European-level initiatives desired, the organisations felt “awareness raising and design promotion” was the area where public initiatives in support of design would be most useful (82%). This was followed closely by “design education” (75%) and “design research” (74%). A total of 68% considered that “design support to organisations” was what was needed. Only 1% of organisations considered that public initiatives in support of design were not useful [Is this a sort of public sector self-justification exercise, or what?].

For more details see Results of the public consultation on design".

Recession and retro-design: are they connected?

In a post for BrandChannel, "For Recession, Designers Revert To Longtime Wardrobe Staples", Sara Zucker outlines her thesis that links recession with retro-design. She writes:

"The worst trends never really seem to go away, don’t you think? Fanny packs, bellbottoms, babydoll dresses – they just won’t disappear.

This time, irony is at its peak, but it may not be such a bad thing; designers are finding inspiration in another major American “depression” to fashionably cope with this one. Michael Bastian’s spring 2010 menswear collection will feature a three-piece glen plaid suit.

Sound familiar? Such an outfit has been a staple in the closets of men since the beginning of the 20th century.

Ralph Lauren turned The Grapes of Wrath into a runway of torn overalls, felt hats, floral dresses, and oxfords. The Wall Street Journal hit the nail on the head in observing that every move, especially a trend, has its purpose:

"There's a quest to reassure the consumer that this is safe, this is good, you're putting your money in the right place. You're going to feel good," says Isham Sardouk, senior vice president of trend forecasting for trend-tracker Stylesight.

Footwear in particular is making great strides in stepping back. Timberland Co. recently issued a collection of shoes and boots inspired by styles seen from 1900 to 1945. The company calls that particular period of time "an era of hardship, war and industrialization—marked by a shift to cities and women entering the work force." The economy may not have been sturdy, but the clothing sure was".

I'm not convinced that this slender data, by itself, is persuasive. Retro-design and the drawing of inspiration from the past is not quite as old as design itself but can't be much younger and I suspect that there's as much evidence of retro-design as a novelty selling-point in times of boom and affluence.

The more recent past is also a great inspiration for design, as can be depressingly seen by anyone who looks at the applications for invalidity before the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market.

Bill's Ink Honors Generations Past and Future

I met Bill in mid-September on the 34th Street train platform while waiting for a downtown A train.

You may have heard of the scent known as a "new car smell". Bill had whatis known as a "new tattoo sheen," which occurs when one anoints a fresh tattoo with a healing ointment used to protect the ink.


The tattoo depicts himself, seen from the back, standing in reverence at the graves of his grandfather "Giff" and his uncle Giff Jr.


It's a nice way to memorialize his family. This was inked by Aaron at Red Rocket Tattoo East, in Levittown on Long Island.

Bill has a great tattoo on his outer right forearm, as well. Whereas his left arm is a memorial to those in his family that passed before him, his other piece pays tribute to a newer generation:


In this piece, two traditional swallows hold aloft a banner bearing the name of his daughter, Allana.

This tattoo, his first, was done by Greg Fly at The Tattoo Shop on Rte 112 in Medford, L.I.

Thanks to Bill for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Two for Tattoosday: Hawai'i Calling and a Pin-Up Boy

I met Joakim and Marina last month on the sidewalk, just outside of the 34th Street Penn Station entrance.

The couple were visiting from Sweden and it was Joakim's sleeves that jumped out at me.

He shared this one segment on his lower right arm:


He asked me if it looked familiar. It did, but I couldn't quite place it. He smiled, and told me it's a variation on the cover of The Clash's quintessential album, London Calling,


Joakim loves the Clash and loves Hawaiian culture, so he designed had the tattoo artist design the piece to merge both elements for a great tattoo.

The piece was inked by Big Fat Joe at a shop called Art by Fafnir in Stockholm.


I turned to Marina and asked if she had any tattoos. She smiled and said she did, removing her jacket to reveal this piece, also by Joe:


"It's my pin-up boy," she laughed. Her variation on the traditional pin-up girl is going to tie in with a sleeve she is working on, as well.

She remarked that the artist was "thrilled" to do this tattoo, because it was not the typical pin-up tattoo.

Thanks to Joakim and Marina for sharing their great tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Hang on to your seats ...

The decision of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales in Virgin Atlantic v Premium Aircraft Interiors is expected this Thursday. At first instance Mr Justice Lewison held that Virgin had failed to show that Contour infringed either its unregistered design right or its patent relating to the airline's business class seating system.

In the course of his lengthy and carefully worded decision Mr Justice Lewison reiterated the difficulty of interpreting the unregistered designs provision of section 213 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and reviewed the role of the expert witness in design infringement proceedings. Class 99 awaits the outcome with excitement.

Whole Lotta Ink

I spotted Dina's runic tattoos outside of Borders on Penn Plaza, late one Friday afternoon:


Dina is a big fan of Led Zeppelin and, as most fans know, these runes represent the four members of the band.


The four symbols represent, from left to right, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant. These symbols appeared on the band's untitled fourth album and, for many people, represented the name of the record (i.e. "Zoso" or "Runes"). There's more on the naming of "IV" here.

This is one of three tattoos Dina has and, in case you were wondering, "Since I've Been Loving You" is her favorite Zeppelin tune.

Thanks to Dina for sharing her runes with us here on Tattoosday!

A little bonus, in honor of Dina: