Street Artists Accuse Guess of Using Their Tags in New Lawsuit

A lawsuit has been brought against the fashion brand Guess and the department store Macy’s by two graffiti artists alleging copyright infringement. The claim was filed in a Los Angeles federal court by the Danish artist Robin Ronn, who goes by the professional name Bates, and Patrick Griffin, the brother of the late Sean Griffin. Better known as Nekst, the late Griffin was a groundbreaking and prolific tagger from Houston active in the mid-1990s who went on to join the Mad Society Kings in New York. His untimely death in 2013 was considered a mystery at the time. According to the court filings, Guess is accused of using the artists’ tags on its clothing designs while Macy’s allegedly benefitted from the sales of the brand’s clothing in its stores. The lawsuit states that Nekst is universally recognized as a pioneer of street art and “any fan would instantly recognize his tag” while “Bates is not far behind” with his work being featured in books including The History of American Graffiti. These tags have been featured on shirts produced by Guess. “It’s just mechanical, verbatim reproductions of the actual tags, the actual artist signatures,” Jeff Gluck, a lawyer for the artists...