The Munich District Court wants Beyoncé to take off her underwear - only to avoid further copyright infringement, of course!Sony, the producer of a music video with Beyoncé, received an injunction order issued by the court on behalf of the Munich lingerie company Triumph due to copyright infringement in December 2009. In this video, the famous US singer wears an unusual and stylish combination of underwear with bracelets and a pair of sunglasses.
Sony’s appeal has recently been refused by the court. The design of Beyoncé’s underwear, says the court, is similar to what a design student from Bulgaria drafted for a lingerie competition organised by Triumph in 2009. The student had become one of the finalists of this competition, and his design was even published in Italian Vogue. In an interview he said that he had been inspired by Picasso.
In the judge’s opinion, the design has a high level of individuality and, therefore, it assumes a high level of protection. The decision is only based on copyright, but protection as an unregistered Community design also comes into consideration. So far so good, but in addition to the legal matters, Triumph showed its probably deeper interest in publicity: it offered Sony and Beyoncé to withdraw the order if she would become an honorary member of the Jury for the next lingerie competition. She declined.
It is rather certain that this case will go to a higher court. Let's hope that underwear labels and attractive singers will find harmony soon again.
This post was contributed by Adrian Kleinheyer, trainee lawyer in the Munich office of Bardehle Pagenberg.
No comments:
Post a Comment