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Hells Angels Go After Designer, Allege Copyright Infringement

There are countless words of advice one could give a working designer, but perhaps the most important by far is this: a) don’t infringe upon the copyrights of major, well-known institutions, and b) if you decide to do it anyway, definitely, definitely don’t infringe upon a copyright of the Hells Angels. Such advice is unfortunately being received too late Wildfox Couture, a design company based out of Los Angeles. The company was selling a shirt on their site, along with a number of other outlets, which read “My Boyfriend’s A Hells Angel” (Wildfox’s site appears to be down, but here it is on another online retailer’s site). Being a “motorcycle club” (the interesting and entertaining FAQ on their site explains that they are absolutely “not a gang”), they did what any seriously intimidating motorcycle club would do: the get their lawyers involved. CBS Los Angeles reports that the group has filed a suit against Wildfox, as well as the number of other sites selling the shirt, alleging copyright infringement:

[Attorney Fritz Clapp] said the lawsuit is ultimately aimed at getting this merchandise out of the vast online marketplace.

“They should just plain not be sold,” he said. “We want to get them off the market, sequester them and have them destroyed.”

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