We begin with defining the word plagiarism. A quick look at Dictionary.com states that it is “an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author.” The nature of this then intersects very easily within those in the creative sphere, as brushes among each other’s work is not uncommon. Often, credit is given whenever and artwork is inspired by another designer as a nod and acknowledgement, but this isn’t the case sometimes, exemplified with the current controversy between graphic designer, Haziq Jenal and Pestle & Mortar.
The whole debacle started when Haziq approached CEO and Creative Director of PMC, Hugh Koh, on a potential collaboration in June, with positive reception coming from Hugh, but the collaboration never came to fruition. Haziq then decided to produce his own t-shirts featuring the design a month after that, but coincidentally however, Pestle & Mortar also teased a Merdeka capsule with a t-shirt strikingly similar to the one that Haziq made. Of course, this brings much chagrin as word spread out in the Twitterverse, with several netizens fuming at the brand for plagiarising a young designer’s work.
Its not a coincidence, bila you present your design and suddenly they release something similar, u wanted to collab but they ignored it and made their own design.
I am very dissapointed @pestlenmortar pic.twitter.com/iwC5Ia0VpM
— haziqjenal (@_haziqjenal) August 22, 2018
Pestle & Mortar has since responded to the allegations, releasing a statement that states otherwise, clarifying that the idea to make a Proton Saga t-shirt has been in the works since last year November.
Excerpt from PMC’s official statement
Pestle & Mortar stated that the Saga design has been in the works predating the one designed by Haziq, thus, invalidating any claims of plagiarising. However it may by, a flurry of displeasure soon waved by, resulting from the immediacy and viral nature of instant social media platforms throwing about accusations of who copied who. Which brings us to the another observation, that this isn’t the first time that the Saga was used to be the face of a t-shirt.
When Haziq make PMC come out from their mistake, the owner of the brand dare to say like this to him. Oh so like ideas are coincidence? And he said "I'vE nEvER se3N tHiS gUys ArTw0rK beF0r3" bullshit, then what is the stuff he was sending you before all this? Gambar minyak dagu? pic.twitter.com/S9jEfKz1BP
— fire breathing dragon (@fire__breathing) August 22, 2018
Picture by Kerchik San
Preme.KL has produced something similar to this sometime ago, reinforcing the fact that ideas cannot be owned from a legal standpoint as there is no proof or backing to claiming otherwise unless copyrighted. Referring to the Copyright Act of 1987 page 21 under General Provision, “(3) A literary, musical or artistic work shall not be eligible for copyright unless— (a) sufficient effort has been expended to make the work original in character; and (b) the work has been written down, recorded or otherwise reduced to material form.” In this case, it is impossible to copyright said design as it isn’t original in character; the Proton Saga is a national icon after all.
It remains to the subject of interpretation of who is in the right or wrong. Depending on how it is viewed, both angles can be construed to look at either party is at fault, but judging from the outcome, we say neither party is right, or wrong. what do you think readers? Let us know in the comments below.
