Patrick's moustache design (left) and the Zara t-shirt (right) © Patrick Waldo / ZaraA street artist who was jailed for drawing moustaches on subway posters in New York has accused Zara of stealing his unique design.
Patrick Waldo drew his signature moustaches on posters in subway stations for more than a year before he was caught.
“I came up with the idea [for my graffiti moustache] in March 2010. I was at a subway station in Times Square and I saw an ad on the platform that from far away looked like it had a moustache drawn on it,” Patrick told The Huffington Post.
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Patrick Waldo before a court appearance © Patrick Waldo / Twitter“As I got closer, I realised some graffiti writer had just tagged his name on the actor's face. I figured if there was gonna be any text on someone's upper lip, it should just say "moustache.
“I went home and practiced on magazine ads, came back a few nights later with a Sharpie, and started drawing "moustaches" on every ad I saw. I didn't stop until the NYPD arrested me in June 2011.”
Patrick was arrested and subsequently charged with felony criminal mischief for allegedly causing $1,500 (£940) in damage by defacing adverts in subway stations.
He was jailed and ordered to do community service.
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He has now accused Zara, whose boss Amancio Ortega is the third richest man in the world, of copying his design and printing it on $17 (£10) t-shirts.
Waldo argues that the moustache design is his intellectual property and thinks Zara should compensate him.
“There's no doubt in my mind that Zara stole my design,” he said.
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“It's not as if I came up with the idea and then kept it to myself. I put my moustache on thousands of posters all over New York City for well over a year. They got press before I was arrested.”
“I didn't go to jail to have some chain store steal my work.”
Patrick tweeted Zara this week to voice his argument, saying: “'hey @ZARA, i moustache you a question. did you think i wouldn't notice that you stole my work?.”
Patrick's designs were on subway station adverts © Patrick WaldoIt’s not the first time Zara has been accused of copying designs. It was claimed they stole graffiti designs from off the streets in 2007 – and in 2010, a French fashion blogger claimed Zara took images from her blog without her permission.
The t-shirt has since been taken down from the store’s website.
Do you think Waldo has a point?