Madeline Weinrib.Photo: Patrick McMullan
Madeline Weinrib, the great-granddaughter of the founder of ABC Carpet & Home and a rug designer, has filed suit against Pottery Barn, West Elm, and their parent company Williams-Sonoma for copyright infringement. Pottery Barn’s “Moorish Tile Rug” and West Elm’s “Taksim Tile Rug” are “virtually indistinguishable,” she says, from her Brooke Carpet design, which she created in 2005. She wants the companies to stop selling the rugs and give her the profits as well as damages.
On the one hand, we can totally see Weinrib’s point: If poor people can make their homes look just like the homes of rich people, how will everyone know rich people are better?
But then on the other hand, what about the Moroccan and Taksim people whose designs got ripped off in the first place? We think they should be able to get a pretty fat cash settlement from any or all of these companies. But you know who should really be pissed? Zebras. People have been ripping those stripes off for far too long if you ask us.
RUG SUIT AS EASY AS ABC [NYP]
