This time an etsy artist sues the Frido Kahlo Corporation (FKC) because her Frida dolls were flagged and taken down due to the infringement of the Frida estate. But this lawsuit isn’t as black and white because two entities claim the rights to Frida Kahlo, which is the FKC and Cristina Kahlo — Frida’s niece.
Nina Shope, an author, and artisan from Denver, Colorado says…
“Hey everyone, so I have some huge news… I have just filed a lawsuit against the Frida Kahlo Corporation (FKC), which flagged some of my Frida dolls for deactivation on Etsy,” the artisan wrote on Facebook.”The FKC claims to hold a trademark registration on ‘Frida Kahlo’ for dolls, and it has targeted small artists repeatedly.
She went on to say, “I don’t believe that artists should be bullied or threatened into abandoning their art, silencing their voices, and stifling their creativity. That is the main reason why I am challenging the FKC’s alleged trademark registration, that has been used as a cudgel not only against me but against a number of other creators and artists.”
Her lawsuit against FKC states, “The name of a doll does not violate the Lanham Act [the federal statute for trademarks, service marks, and unfair competition] unless the name has no artistic relevance to the underlying work whatsoever, or, if it has some artistic relevance, unless the title explicitly misleads as to the source or the content of the work. Here, neither concern applies.”
The dolls themselves, which are still available on Etsy and retail for $68, are a semi-unique take on the Mexican artist. The main Frida giveaway is her signature unibrow, but there’s no way any estate can own the legal right to a unibrow.
Source: https://hiplatina.com/etsy-artist-sues-frida-kahlo-corporation/
