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03/21/2008: "MIKE23. Never Stop. Rushing to the Counter. Zock On"
I do visit different designer figures forum, such the KR, MPH, etc. Often, people would ask if it is legal to use another company's character, be it as a parody, mimic, "inspired", or just homage. This is a question that most believe has a great gray area. Some would have comments like "yeah, but he did it before and he didn't get into trouble, so why would I get in trouble when I do it?" Yeah, but other than the actual property owner that you are "inspired" by, who else could decide whether or not you'd be sued later on? If you are expecting someone to post "Go ahead! I'm sure you won't get sued" Then, you might be simply looking for a false sense of security. There are written laws about copyrights, so maybe actually researching the subject as much as you can will help more than just asking randomly on a message board.
Some designers would say to me "oh I changed it enough not to get sued, blah blah blah.." Truth be told, I don't even know how far we can go before stepping over the line on some of our stuff. I'll know when I get a letter in the mailbox. I got one before, it wasn't funny at all. I don't want to stir up that whole thing again, but for some of you who kept on asking for a certain product that never came out, well, BINGO. The up side of that was the fact that that company warned me early enough and we didn't start production. That was the up side.
Scott Nelson is a fellow blogger on Slam x Hype, and actually someone I was in contact with some years ago about a collabo. But what can better explain him would be his brand MIKE23. The brand MIKE23 pays homage to Nike and Jordan, that's an admitted fact by Scott. He worked hard at his brand for the past 3 years. I can still remember picking up his tee at Clientel in New York City back in 2005, that was the year he started the brand, actually, that was his first style of t-shirt as well.
Anyways, Scott's recent experience was not so pleasant. Last month, Nike issued a letter demanding MIKE23 to "change". Click over to Rob Walker's, he can give you the whole story there. Rob is another amazing fellow I met back in 2005 in New York (actually the same trip as I bought the Mike tee). Very insightful columnist. (I can still remember the food he treated me to. I'm coming back next month, Rob.)
I'm not about to pass a judgment on this, because like Rob said, this is not our place to make a judgment. However, I'm pointing this out because I would like some of you to keep this in mind; IT CAN HAPPEN. Scott's brand was established 3 years ago, 2005, and it has been reported by numerous trends sites and magazines numerous times in the past few years. Only now is Nike reacting to this. No matter how late or early they react, you can pretty much imagine the results. Just bare this in mind the next time you feel "inspired".
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Most of my close friends know that I have a thing about coming up with brand names. Creating a brand and creating a brand name are very different, of course. One is a long work process, while the other one is just a keyword that popped into your mind and you believe that it has a nice ring to it. So, yeah, I just have a thing about thinking up names. A year or 2 ago, I was working at my desk, piles and piles of unsolved mysteries (bills, I mean) in front of me, a cool name came into my mind; "Never Stop". "Never Stop" can mean alot of things when you think about it, especially if you are in the creative industry. So, the first thing I did, I tried to register the domain name, a dot com. Sorry; TAKEN. Three other words popped right into my mind at that moment... W.T.F?! Ok, then forgot it. Some company in the US already taken that domain name. Fine. End of story.
Last November, I got an email from a friend of a friend who was visiting Beijing for work. The work was the Love of Force exhibition at Nike706. Always good to meet new friends, why not? Which company he works for? NEVER STOP.
Well, those 3 words popped right back into my head that given moment, put it that way. Small world, huh?
The boys are in Shanghai this month. Had the pleasure of having dinner with them tonight. Jou-Yie and Casey, pleasure seeing you again. Enjoy the city. And yes, you guys did the name justice, you guys NEVER STOP.
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Recently read an interesting article on Hong Kong Hustle about the latest Neighborhood x W)Taps activity in Hong Kong, the "Previously Opening Exhibition". It mentioned how people rush to consume without looking at everything that the designers have carefully put on display. Displays that were made to help explain the brands' culture and ideas. If we are not interested in the brands' cultures or ideas, what are we actually consuming?
I can feel this problem with the gendre that we are in as well. Well, of course, being "visually attracted" is a legit enough reason for purchasing as well. But, there's always more behind the visuals.
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THE NEW SINGLE FROM TERIYAKI BOYZ - ZOCK ON featuring PHARRELL & BUSTA RHYMES.
Nice tune, but I am not sure which language this is in though. Universal? And let's not forget to mention the appearance of Jessica Michibata in the vid.
(Source: TK's blog)