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Store owner shellshocked over turtle art suit

Store owner shellshocked over turtle art suit

The owner of a Pittsburgh video store is facing prosecution over the choice of décor for his building. 20 year-old Milton Barr, proprietor of independent outlet, MIB Ninja Entertainment, has run into trouble for advertising the store with a distinctive, bright green mural facing out into the street featuring Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo and Raphael: not the long-dead and long out-of-copyright artists – but the heavily trademarked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Enjoying a raised profile following the release of a computer-generated film that became one of the surprise US hits of the Spring, the reckless reptiles are now primed for trilogy status. Determined to protect its revitalised IP, trademark owner, Mirage Studios Inc, filed a lawsuit against Barr on 30 April.

Mirage was founded by comic book artist, Peter Laird, and his writing partner, Kevin Eastman, after the pair created the Turtles in 1983. Daily pressures caused by the comic’s breakthrough as a pop-culture phenomenon forced Eastman to sell his stake in the business to Laird, who now owns it outright.

In addition to demanding monetary damages, the lawsuit specifies that the mural should be destroyed, and requests that an injunction should be placed on the store to prevent it from using the images in the future.

Barr has protested that the characters on his mural are not exactly the same as Laird and Eastman’s, and has claimed: ‘Under the First Amendment, I have the right to paint whatever I want, as long as I don’t make money off it.’ However, University of Pittsburgh trademark professor, Michael Madison, disputes the lack of financial imperative: ‘There is an idea of a free speech defense, but it’s very narrow, and it almost never applies when you’re using a trademark to advance your business.’

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