Poster designers take on Tesco
A FLEDGLING design company is taking legal action against Tesco, after finding one of its poster designs had been used by the supermarket behemoth on a T-shirt.
Sugarbutty Creations, which designs and makes memorabilia for pop bands, has been in dispute with supermarket giant Tesco since April 2009, over the use of an image Sugarbutty designed as tour merchandise for New York-based band Nada Surf.
A limited edition, silk screened poster has been allegedly copied by Tesco and reproduced on a T-shirt in its Cherokee clothing range, which uses an in-house design team.
Manchester-based Sugarbutty has said permission to use and reproduce the image was never sought, and would not have been given had Tesco sought it.
Founders Tracy Ireland and Sarah Walters only discovered the infringement when someone walked past them wearing the offending T-shirt, and they asked where it had been bought.
They have since found the T-shirt on sale for £5 in several Tesco stores in England and Wales, and claim “thousands” have been sold.
“Our initial feeling was panic and embarrassment,” said Ms Walters, who explained that the poster had been designed for use on the limited edition run of tour posters produced exclusively for band Nada Surf.
She added: “We were worried about having the reputation of our business compromised early on because we can’t afford to lose the good relationships we have with bands.”
Sugarbutty instructed intellectual property lawyer Tony Catterall, a partner at Taylors, immediately. He contacted Tesco asking it to cease sales and to withdraw the T-shirt, along with any in-store promotional material featuring Sugarbutty’s design from stores and the Tesco website.
It also specified that Sugarbutty would be seeking payment of any expenses incurred by the business as a result of the legal action.
But the T-shirt was not withdrawn from the website until mid-May and by the time Tesco responded with terms in June, it admitted to having sold more than 95% of its stock.
“Their response was disappointing,” said Ms Walters who added it has not apologised or offered an excuse for the use of the design.
Instead, she said, Tesco’s legal team questioned Sugarbutty Creations’ design processes, in an attempt to discredit the originality of the concept on its poster design.
The company said it has still not been offered adequate compensation and a printed apology from Tesco, so it is now waiting for a date to be issued for a hearing in the High Court.
It added that it hopes the ongoing legal action will also send out a message to Tesco that small designers have legal rights to copyright protection.
A Tesco spokesperson said:”Tesco takes these matters seriously and we have been investigating this complaint whilst corresponding with the company’s lawyers directly. As we are currently in legal discussions we are unable to comment further.”
Sugarbutty launched in February 2008, after Ms Ireland and Walters were asked to design some Babushka dolls as memorabilia for a White Stripes tour.
The pair originally made the dolls as gifts for the band, but Jack and Meg Stripe liked them so much they commissioned 60 sets of the dolls to sell as exclusive merchandise online.
