From: Jim Flannery (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Dec 11 2006 - 18:54:20 PST
Monday, December 11, 2006, 6:10:56 PM, one spoke:
>> According to Snopes, "in May 2003, filmmakers Peter
>> Fischli and David Weiss threatened legal action
>> against Honda over similarities between the Cog
Dug up from the internet graveyard, distributors' statement (from
http://www.prisma-mag.com/mag/mag_interviews2.html ):
"We first learned about the campaign of Honda through viewers in UK and
US who contacted us in April 2003. Neither the artist nor T & C Films,
as the producer and distributor of the film, has been consulted about
the making of the ad. Of course the artists are aware of other works of
other artists and that they did not invent the chain reaction, but the
Honda-commercial is an obvious plagiarism of THE WAY THINGS GO.
"The film THE WAY THINGS GO became a classic since 1987 and an
international success. It was shown worldwide in many international art
museums, exhibitions and on Television. Companies and ad agencies have
asked for permission to use the film on several occasions since 1987,
but for us it is an art work so we have always say no.
"When the campaign "COG" was released in the UK without making any
reference to the artists and the ignorance of Wieden+Kennedy (Honda) of
any resemblance to THE WAY THINGS GO by Fischli/Weiss, showed the
typical example how artists work is used as a blueprint and model by
advertisements .
"The COG is an re-enactment of the Fischli/Weiss film (the set-up,
lighting, sequences of events and object used and the artistic
realization) and overall impression are similar to THE WAY THINGS GO.
Checking the law we found out that this is a borderline case for law
(copyright and authorship) as in UK it is treated under common law and
artists are not protected like in our continental system where
artists/creative people are more protected. We learned that we would not
have the chance to start/open a lawsuit in UK (financially as it would
have taken also a long time) as a small independent company from
Switzerland against the multinational group.Our first intention has
never been to get a financially compensation when we started to claim
damages, it was a poetic justice in the name of independent art we
adjusted for. At the end the enormous reaction by viewers, who compared
the ad with the artwork of Fischli/Weiss, proofed us that a lot people
know the original.
"Sincerely,
T & C Film AG "
What's appalling to me is the ad agency's response that TWTG was "one of"
the sources of inspiration ... what was the other one, _Metropolitan_
(they both have hardwood floors)?
-- Jim Flannery email suppressed __________________________________________________________________ For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.