3M says, Screw you amateur artist

[Ari]

In another example of a big company abusing the talents/ideas of amateur artists, 3M recently stole an idea for a viral marketing campaign.
3M Carjacks the Post-It Note Jaguar - All About Content (http://www.all-about-content.com/2008/09/3m-carjacks-postit-note-jaguar.html)

The short of it, in 2006 a bunch of coworked decided to cover their friends Jaguar in post it notes as a prank, they also posted the images of it on flikr and youtube. 3M finally noticed and wanted to license them for the main image of a national campaign. After the artists first offer was rejected they told him they found someone willing to copy it for $750-$1000 and thus weren't willing to pay more. The negotiation was dropped, and recently the copy has started appearing in stores.

Hopefully he sues their ass for stealing his idea, especially since they admitted they would steal it if he didn't lower his price. It seems like just another case of a large company willing to roll over the little guy to save a few bucks. This is becoming more and more common with amateurs getting worldwide exposure on the web.

[Corona688]

I was going to say, "A car, covered in post-it notes? A copyrighted work of art? Seriously?" then I looked at the link first, fortunately, and is indeed artwork, not just a car covered in notes.

If 3m had commissioned some different artwork on the car that'd be a greyer area but just plain copying it? that sucks of them.

[freemonkey]

Screw you, 3M, I'll be buying the other brand sticky papers from now on.

[Ari]

Even if it was an ugly piece of art, they not only copied the work almost exactly but shot the photos with a similar feel and angle.

Not to mention the ethics and legality of telling him that if he doesn't lower his price they will just rip him off.

[Ensign Steve]

Screw you, 3M, I'll be buying the other brand sticky papers from now on.

I will definitely be stealing the off-brand ones from work from now on. :yup: