In the age of the Internet, copyright infringement is dangerously easy, and the victims of this crime do not always choose to defend their interests. "Copy-paste" is a popular practice and it would seem - harmless. It is, after all, two clicks of the mouse. The case, of course, is not so simple, and the theft of intellectual value is punishable.
Not long ago Katarzyna Jagodzinska described the case of the Disco Polo Center to be built in Michalowo: Architecture in the style of disco polo, or plagiarism in architecture. The visualization presented by Michalowo is a project by Ericpol, a Krakow-based architectural studio Horizone Studio.
Katarzyna Kuo Stolarska of KUOO ARCHITECTS studio encountered a similar situation of using intellectual property. Polish lighting manufacturer LABRA included the architect's design in its 2018 catalog "Light Thinking" volume 1. As a result, Katarzyna Kuo Stolarska decided to issue an official letter (the content of which can be found in the gallery), stating that she does not agree with the arbitrary and illegal use of her design in the brand's catalog.
Not only was the design stolen and published in the catalog, the original lighting was replaced with LABRA lamps. Thus, Katarzyna Kuo Stolarska decided to take the matter to court.
As we read in the architect's statement, in addition to the KUOO ARCHITECTS design, the manufacturer also violated the copyrights of the A. M. ARCHITECTS studio and Vincent van Duysen.
LABRA has addressed the matter. In an official statement, Krzysztof Zgola marketing and product manager wrote:
Due to the fact that in 2018 a visualization was published once in the promotional catalog of our company's products, which, as it later turned out, may have violated the intellectual property rights of Ms. Katarzyna Kuo-Stolarska, we apologize to Ms. Katarzyna Kuo-Stolarskafor the situation. The catalog was immediately removed by us from distribution when we received disturbing information about possible copyright violations in February 2019, and the disputed graphic was permanently removed from the catalog.
A professional subcontractor - 3D design and visualization studio GIZMO Oleksandr Shestakovych, to whom we commissioned the development of graphics for the catalog, was responsible for preparing the graphics for the catalog, which was also a party to the case. Unfortunately, the subcontractor misled us, claiming that he had independently prepared these graphics and was entitled to the copyrights to them. Acting in confidence in a professional subcontractor, we were unaware that the visuals used were copyrighted by Ms. Katarzyna Kuo-Stolarska. Unaware of the violation of the law, we published these graphics in the catalog for the presentation of new products.
We assure you that it was in no way our intention to exploit the fruits of someone else's work, especially since we work with architects, photographers or product designers on a daily basis, we respect their work and are well aware of how difficult intellectual property infringement is.
In view of the above, we have proposed an amicable solution to the existing dispute in order to compensate Ms. Kuo-Stolarskafor the use of the visualization in question, but the demand of Ms. Katarzyna Kuo-Stolarskain the amount of PLN 100,000 for the unintentional use of a single graphic, which was immediately removed by us and for which we publicly apologize, is far too excessive. The case is currently in court proceedings and we are making every effort to resolve the dispute amicably.
Krzysztof Zgoła
Marketing and Product Manager
LABRA's statement
Copyright infringement is strongly objected to. The example of the use of Katarzyna Kuo Stolarska's design by the LABRA brand without her knowledge shows the scale of this problem in Poland, and the fact that the case has been going on for so long can only be read to the detriment of the Polish manufacturer. Especially since the value of a creative product is not a measurable issue.
