Media Education & Film

Intellectual Property: Case Study 3

 

Kate Spade Products Accused of Infringing Design Copyright of Vera Neumann

 

Kate Spade is being sued for $1 million in a copyright infringement suit over an iconic poppy print. The trustees of artist Vera Neumann’s estate, who own all of the artist’s copyrights following her death (for a total of 70 years from Neumann’s death in 1993), have brought suit against the designer in a NY district court. According to court documents filed, the plaintiffs are alleging that Spade blatantly copied the artist’s famous 1979 design, Poppy Field (pictured below).