Hey lawyers.. Looky what Nike did.

[-Jar-]

can Nike do this?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/23.shtml

Look how they stole the cover art from Minor Threats album..


I know Nike Corporation vs. Dischord Records is hardly a match legally, but man, the rip-off is pretty blatant. They changed the color, changed "Minor" to Major" and added some Nike Logos.


..we owe you nothing,
you have no control..

[Duds]

ADIDAS all the way!!


can Nike do this?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/23.shtml

Look how they stole the cover art from Minor Threats album..


I know Nike vs. Dischord is hardly a match, but man, the rip-off is pretty blatant.

[Stone]

It looks like copyright infringement to me, but who knows if anything will come of it. Did you see that Nike also used the Minor Threat text design on their site but it says "Major Threat" instead of Minor Threat? Another blatant rip off.

[Troy]

Looks like there's gonna be a graphic design position opening at Nike next week. Maybe even a design director gig. Better watch craigslist . . .

[newtrix1]

maybe they compensated them?

[BarryL]

can Nike do this?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/23.shtml

Look how they stole the cover art from Minor Threats album..


I know Nike Corporation vs. Dischord Records is hardly a match legally, but man, the rip-off is pretty blatant. They changed the color, changed "Minor" to Major" and added some Nike Logos.


..we owe you nothing,
you have no control..


Some creative-genius wanna-be stole the idea thinking nobody would notice, or not bothering to check with legal. He'll be fired and Nike will come to terms with the label really quickly.

On the other hand, the supreme court ruled yesterday that property rights are all but a thing of the past in America. I think the U.S. is becoming assimilated into Canada fairly quckly. We have no real protection of property rights in the constitution either. But at least our politicians don't pretend that we do.

[-Jar-]

Some creative-genius wanna-be stole the idea thinking nobody would notice, or not bothering to check with legal. He'll be fired and Nike will come to terms with the label really quickly.



I just find this difficult to believe. There are ex-punks (and current punks) everywhere in corporate america. And in the legal system ;) I know a lawyer with a huge D.R.I. tatoo on his back. That NO ONE in Nike that went to those meetings and approved the artwork noticed the Minor Threat rip-off is just unfathomable. I just don't get their thinking.

-jar

[BarryL]

I just find this difficult to believe. There are ex-punks (and current punks) everywhere in corporate america. And in the legal system ;) I know a lawyer with a huge D.R.I. tatoo on his back. That NO ONE in Nike that went to those meetings and approved the artwork noticed the Minor Threat rip-off is just unfathomable. I just don't get their thinking.

-jar

If it was an internal conspiracy, then they actually wanted to thieve it without permission. That means either they don't understand or care about intellectual property, or they know what they were doing and wanted the publicity.

I don't know the source of the article, but I'm assuming that the campaign referred to is real. Any chance the piece is itself a publicity stunt, and Nike isn't involved at all?

[Stone]

If it was an internal conspiracy, then they actually wanted to thieve it without permission. That means either they don't understand or care about intellectual property, or they know what they were doing and wanted the publicity.

I don't know the source of the article, but I'm assuming that the campaign referred to is real. Any chance the piece is itself a publicity stunt, and Nike isn't involved at all?


Don't think so.


http://www.nike.com/nikeskateboarding/v2/assets/bottomBar/threat/index.html

[Jim Clark]

Don't think so.


http://www.nike.com/nikeskateboarding/v2/assets/bottomBar/threat/index.html

Rolodex on fire?

jc

[Stone]

Rolodex on fire?

jc

Not quite, but there's a guy in my office who thinks I should call Dischord and offer my services.

[Jim Clark]

Not quite, but there's a guy in my office who thinks I should call Dischord and offer my services.

Well, yeah!

sic'm.

jc

[dean_martin]

I took my teenager to get some new shoes the other day. He wears Adios. He thinks he's a skate punk/surfer dude. I noticed that Nike was trying to break into the skateboard punk market. I found it rather disingeniuous. But maybe the market's big enough or these teens are getting enough money from their parents for Nike to take a calculated risk in ripping off someone else's stuff and make enough profits to more than cover the damgages. Anyhow, that's my theory. I bet if you subpoenaed the records for this particular marketing campaign you would find money set aside to pay any judgment (and costs) arising from intellectual property rights infringement.

[-Jar-]

I took my teenager to get some new shoes the other day. He wears Adios. He thinks he's a skate punk/surfer dude. I noticed that Nike was trying to break into the skateboard punk market. I found it rather disingeniuous. But maybe the market's big enough or these teens are getting enough money from their parents for Nike to take a calculated risk in ripping off someone else's stuff and make enough profits to more than cover the damgages. Anyhow, that's my theory. I bet if you subpoenaed the records for this particular marketing campaign you would find money set aside to pay any judgment (and costs) arising from intellectual property rights infringement.

Which begs the question.. would Dischord settle? That's kind of against their way.. taking money to let a big corporation use something they created to make even more money. That's so very unDischord and very un-Minor Threat/Fugazi.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out..

-jar

[-Jar-]

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/28.shtml

Nike has pulled the ad and apologized to Minor Threat and Dischord..

I find this part slightly amusing..

All of Nike employees responsible for the creation of the tour flyer are fans of both Minor Threat and Dischord Records and have nothing but respect for both.


I can't believe anyone who would know anything about Ian Mackaye or Dischord records would think that stealing their art would be an "ok" thing to do.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall at Nike.

-jar