Copyright infringement is a hot subject nowadays. On internet everything is visible and sometimes music, art or designs are resembling. Which gives an opportunity of a good news item. In the media often the words plagiarism/copycats are used. For example, on the website Dezeen the similarity between the designer bag of Balenciaga and the IKEA’s Frakta bag was recently discussed with a hint that the bag of Balenciaga was a “copycat”.
Plagiarism or copycat refers to a copyright infringement. Generally speaking, the new work has taken over the original elements of the copyright protected work in such a way that there is no new creation.
Is there a copyright issue with these bags? If you look a little further than just the color then you will see a lot of differences: a shapeless bag versus a bag with a shape, the chosen materials, the stitching, the handles. In short, the only news in this matter is that a designer bag has some similarities with a 1 euro bag (often it is the opposite), but a copycat? No.
UPDATE: Meanwhile Ikea has responded to Balenciaga’s lookalike bag (click here).
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