According to New York City street artist James de la Vega, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ripped off his trademarked slogan “You’re more powerful than you think” for their recent “Gigantic” advertisement. The fedora wearing, bearded pavement painter claims he has been using the phrase for close to ten years, while Apple’s ad only appeared in the last few weeks. Both Tony Burch and Quotable Cards Inc. have acknowledged Mr. de la Vega’s ownership of the uplifting sentence, approaching him for permission to use it in their own products.
Mr. de la Vega is seeking to avoid the matter reaching court by demanding an out of court settlement from Apple (AAPL) and an “acknowledgment” that the firm made use of his words. The street artist says frankly that he feels some of the “huge profits” that Apple earned through use of the ad belong in his pocket as well, since they leveraged his idea in full knowledge that they were making use of his common law trademark.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) has thus far issued no response in answer to Mr. de la Vega’s allegations and demands. The artist has been a famous fixture of Manhattan, and particularly the Harlem area, for years now, leaving images and inspirational quotations on pavement in various areas of the city. His artistic work has also appeared in Cristie’s, and he briefly ran a gallery of his own.
Though it is unlikely that Mr. de la Vega was the first person in the history of the world to string that particular sentence together, that fact would be immaterial if he could demonstrate the likelihood that Apple used the words in order to evoke his philosophical outlook and progressive agenda. Since many Apple customers fall on the progressive end of the mental spectrum, it hardly seems implausible that the Cupertino firm would use the words specifically because they remind customers of an artist seeking to unlock the potential of people in economically troubled city regions with pavement art.
If Mr. de la Vega can indeed produce proof that Quotable Cards Inc. and Tony Burch licensed the phrase from him in the past, his case would be strengthened with precedent. Nevertheless, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has deep pockets, and it only makes economic sense for the artist to seek an out of court settlement by publicly shaming the Cupertino firm through the news, before pursuing more expensive remedies.
