Ripple Junction responds to rip off accusation (5)
Published on June 20th, 2008. By Justin, under General.
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Based off my first post located here
Comment by Neil on June 20, 2008 @ 4:37 am
(cross posted at youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com also)
This is Neil, one of the owners of Ripple Junction. I want to explain a few things about what happened in the creation of this design.
When I first saw this blog posting, I was pissed. Pissed at the designer that did this and I demanded an explanation. We don’t roll like that, and I want to point out to astra that this has not happened before; it was a Goodie Two Sleeves design that was posted previously.
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/?p=805When I questioned the artist, this is his exact response, I’ve included links to the images he’s referring to:
“Dude, I have never seen that.
I came across the attached (http://ripplejunction.com/friends.jpg) image in a list of the top 50 funniest album covers. I jotted down the title cuz I thought it might work with a zombie design, or even something for Resident Evil. I later heard the verbiage again in a song by the band Turbonegro, so I realized it was pretty much a pop culture phrase. I even saw an art print a guy did using batteries that had this verbiage as the title. (http://www.ripplejunction.com/allmyfriendsaredead.gif) The idea I had sat in my notebook for while, though.
One day hot topic was asking for some quick dino tee ideas, and I thought it could work for that, too. And if you remember, after they saw the original design I made (which had a bloody t rex I think) they are the ones that suggested to change it to a stegasarus. How do we know he didn’t use the idea after he saw it at hot topic? The youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com website is notorious for not having editors or fact checkers. Its an open blog.”
I went through my email’s (we originally showed this design to Hot Topic in Feb 08). We showed a cartoony t rex with the verbiage (image here http://ripplejunction.com/RJJS1191.jpg), and hot topic wanted something a little less cartoony. We put in a stegosaurus.
We’ve been selling Hot Topic Dinosaur Shirts since the fall of 2005, you can see a picture of the first design that we shipped to them here (http://ripplejunction.com/MCJS002.jpg) .
The phrase is not original, and people make dinosaur t shirts. There are literally thousands upon thousands of people who design things every day. Ask yourself, is it possible that 2 people in different places used a pop culture phrase and paired it with a dinosaur?
I also want to point out the irony of the fact that the person who posted this, Taddict, has on his blog a bootleg Gremlins tshirt. http://www.taddict.com/blog/2008/06/17/gremlin-t-shirt-design/. We have a license with Warner Bros to produce Gremlins merchandise. We pay a lot of money to secure rights, is it ok to use WBros intellectual property without paying them? Apparently that doesn’t bother anyone.
We work hard to create original, creative artwork and have been doing so for over 15 years. We license artwork from major Studios and individual designers, and have a stellar reputation in our industry. I don’t know if this will change anyone’s mind, but I’m not going to sit back and watch our name get dragged through the mud.
Neil
Ask yourself, is it possible that 2 people in different places used a pop culture phrase and paired it with a dinosaur?
The point is it has been done before - on a t-shirt design, with a dinosaur, with the same text. In my opinion it was to much of a coincidence and I chose to make a post about it. Whether it was a rip off or a coincidence the post still sparked questions and got people talking to the point of where you responded instead of being overlooked. I think I am entitled to my opinion with the information I had at the time.
I also want to point out the irony of the fact that the person who posted this, Taddict, has on his blog a bootleg Gremlins tshirt. http://www.taddict.com/blog/2008/06/17/gremlin-t-shirt-design/.
It is a lot easier to recognize a rip off T-shirt design than to figure out who holds the correct licence for a shirt genre (there is not magical list that I know of). I had no reason to question Monsieur T (which is the company who is selling that Gremlin t-shirt) they offer wholesale pricing, have products in physical stores, and have been established for some time. But if you don’t think I care - you are wrong. In the past I have turned down post for shops who I think to be selling un licensed goods. Lastly I don’t think switching the subject matter onto me is going to take off the press you are getting for the design accusation..
What is your opinion on this subject after reading Ripple Junctions response?
- At first I thought it was a rip off design, but now I think it was merly a coincidence. (67%, 16 Votes)
- My original opinion hasn't changed, I still think this design was a rip off. (33%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 24
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5 Comments
Kevin Stecko on June 23rd, 2008
I would like to volunteer to let you know if a shirt is licensed or not. But as a general rule of thumb you can bet that any Steven Spielberg movie will not allow officially licensed t-shirts to have the word “F&@K” in it. That’s actually a pretty good rule of thumb in general. Studio’s have to be careful not to offend people, and therefore generally don’t allow more than double entendre (if they allow that much).
Justin on June 23rd, 2008
good point about the word association - at the least - this series of post has enlightened me to better watch out for un-licensed goods. I still wish there was a better way of verifying license goods instead of just asking or assuming.
Kevin Stecko on June 23rd, 2008
I would be a good resource in that area. Running 80sTees.com means I have to know who has the licenses for most movies, music, video games, etc.
Justin on June 23rd, 2008
shoot me an email admin @ taddict.com and i’ll add you to my contacts - if i have any questions regarding license goods i will use you as a reference, thanks
Joe on June 20th, 2008
I don’t know whether it’s a rip; there’s no way to know. BUT, they are quite similar. And both the designer and Neil should recognize that. It also sounds as though Big Stone Head came up with the combination phrase/dinosaur before, judging by this post on Tcritic: http://tcritic.com/archives/all-my-friends-are-dead-t-shirt-and-the-20-creepiest-album-covers-ever/