The Black Dahlia murder continues to stir the public imagination and . . . provides a useful illustration of the most essential thing Plaintiff is lacking: a valid copyright,” says the unusual motion, filed last month.
It continued, “The Black Dahlia’s killer was, no doubt, a felon. But was he also a valuable copyright holder as a result of his illegal activities?” They conclude that while the murderer killed his victim in an “original and artistic way,” he could not sue for copyright of photos of the murders.
The filing reportedly went on to call Rime’s street art, the art that Scott allegedly copied and pasted onto a dress, “an unapologetic act of vandalism and trespass.” The mural in question, called Vandal Eyes, was created by Rime (real name Joseph Tierney) for Detroit street art organization The Seventh Letter, and indeed bears striking resemblance to Scott’s design. Scott has been sued for copyright infringement before.
In October, Scott’s response to this lawsuit, which was first filed in August 2015, involved the argument that an unnamed graphic artist at Moschino “selected and created” the print; Scott’s legal team appears to have backed away from this claim, choosing rather to assert that Rime’s work was up for grabs.
In the same filing, which WWD described as “what appears to be an exercise of self-expression and self-promotion,” Scott blustered at length about his design ethos and all of the celebrities who love him, writing:
“The humor of my work puts a smile on the faces of my audience, providing them with a respite from their problems and the woes of the world, and opens them up to the possibilities of imagination and a re-examination of our society and its values.”
Sounds familiar!
Image via Getty.
