A Street Artist Is Suing Walmart and Ellen DeGeneres for Allegedly Stealing His Signature Heart Logo

Who owns “love”?

It’s a question posed by Julian
Rivera, a street artist known for his signature heart symbol
surrounding the word, in a lawsuit against Walmart and celebrity TV
host Ellen DeGeneres. He claims the company and media personality
appropriated his signature design for a line of apparel.

Earlier this year, the retail
giant released a clothing line made in collaboration with DeGeneres
called EV1. Each piece featured a heart logo that rounded off into
a cursive “love” at the bottom. The design bears a striking
resemblance to Rivera’s own, which he often uses as a signature on
his artworks and apparel, much of which is sold through an online
shop.

In a complaint filed in a California District Court this week,
Rivera’s lawyer, Jeffrey Gluck, accused the company of copyright
infringement, demanding that they remove the items from their
shelves and pay monetary damages. 

The use of the design is
“particularly damaging,” the complaint states, “because Rivera has
carefully avoided any association with corporate culture or
mass-market consumerism.” 

“Despite offers, he has very
rarely made his original art available as part of corporate
advertising campaigns—partly for artistic reasons but also because
doing so would diminish the value of his work,” the complaint
alleges. “Indeed, nothing is more antithetical to a street artist’s
credibility than association with mass-market consumerism—of which
Walmart is the epitome. People who recognized his
design in the EV1 Collection
would have concluded that Rivera ‘sold out,’ diminishing the value
of his work and reputation.”

Rivera first brought the issue
to the company’s attention this May, according to the complaint.
After stating on multiple occasions that they “needed more time to
investigate the matter,” Walmart’s attorney’s issued a full
response to the artist this month, claiming that they had not
copied the work, that their design was significantly different, and
that—according to the complaint—Rivera’s logo “reflected no
appreciable creativity.” The case may ultimately hinge on the
court’s determination of the uniqueness of the “love”
symbol. 

“Walmart is an intellectual
property owner and respects the intellectual property rights of
others,” the company said in a statement to artnet News. “Once we
are served with the complaint, we will respond appropriately with
the court.”

Rivera’s lawyer, Gluck, has
represented a number of designers and street artists who have
allegedly been ripped off by corporations. In 2016, he represented the
estate of Dash Snow in a
lawsuit claiming McDonald’s used the late artist’s “SACE” graffiti
tag in a marketing campaign. Before that, he helped the
street artist RIME bring a case against Jeremy Scott for supposedly copying one
of Rime’s designs for a Moschino clothing line. Earlier this
year, Gluck fought on
behalf of a graffiti artist whose illegal street painting was used as a
backdrop in an H&M ad. 

Gluck did not immediately
respond to request for artnet News’s request for comment on the
Rivera suit.

The post A Street Artist Is Suing Walmart and Ellen
DeGeneres for Allegedly Stealing His Signature Heart Logo
appeared first on artnet News.