Copying, Part One: John Galliano, William Klein, Prada and Warhol

John Galliano was found guilty of plagiarism for copying art work created by William Klein 15 years ago and using it in a recent ad campaign. He has been told to pay a fine of 200 Euro ($275) and publish apologies in the magazines which ran the ads. His lawyer argued that the ads did not resemble any specific Klein work and plans to appeal.

There is clearly a resemblance, but this is hardly an isolated incident. The pop-art images on the new Prada website, created by Rem Koohlaus studio AMO, are pretty darn Warhol-esque. These aren't ads, they're collector's editions, but certainly Andy would have been in no place to complain, having based so much of his work on advertising.

Artist Gillian Wearing decided not to sue Volkswagen when they used images similar to her Signs work (people holding cards with their inner thoughts written on them), because she could not afford to lose. Damien Hirst sued British Airways for copying his work, but was then sued by the maker of the toy he based his HYMN sculpture on.

Of course for the fashion world the issue is a particularly complicated one. Klein says he was particularly resentful of the ads because of the ferocity with which Christian Dior protects its designs. (John Galliano is also the designer for Christian Dior, though the ads in question were for his own line -- controlled by LVMH). All the major fashion houses have teams of lawyers working to protect their copyrights. But fashion is surely one of the worst offenders when it comes to being inspired from the works of others. Christopher Hitchens wrote in his book Unacknowledged Legislation, "But if you think you know what plagiarism is, you're making a very large claim -- the claim that you know originality when you see it." The whole industry would be better off if it aimed to create products good enough to warrant copying.