In short
- Joel Veitch of Rathergood.com produced a song and video called Ninja in 2005
- Coca Cola have made an advert which looks and sounds almost exactly the same.
- Whether this is actually a copyright infringement, I don’t know, as I am not a music lawyer.
- But I do know that it is absolutely without permission and really scummy.
- So I’ve turned this into a short video, filmed in a 5 minute work break in the office stairwell using a webcam borrowed from the bloke upstairs. (Thanks Iain.)
BTW: I’m not just some random nutter who’s picked this up. Joel is a regular member of the B3ta community, which I co-founded, and I don’t like seeing members work getting purloined for commercial purposes without their permission / cash in their pocket.
UPDATE (3rd Jan 2007): Sky News have picked up the story and interviewed Joel, watch this on YouTube. Also a report on the BBC news site, and apparently Channel 5 and Channel 4 news have both filmed something too.
*flashback of Virgin compo*
Well really this is a fucking travesty. It’s not like Joel’s going to be able to take on a multi-national conglomerate in court even if he DOES have ground to stand on.
Boo, hiss.
Start a petition and whore it around the entire internet, Rob!
He should deffo sue. The Beastie Boys took $40000 off British Airways and that was over 10 years ago.
Loz, yes, b3tans appropriate trademarks and such quite a lot… the difference being that those images and animations generally are just for entertainment and personal use, and aren’t used to make money. This is something that nicked for use in an advertisement. Big difference in the level of rage it (quite rightly) would generate.
Not knowing anything about this from a professional point of view, but this is a blatant theft of Joel’s work. The music is damn near identical, and the video is an obvious copy. Were it one of the two things on it’s own it might be difficult to say anything, but both the music and video together?! There’s no argument.
Although the advert was more than likely produced by an ad agency, I would pursue both them and Coke, and give it as much exposure as possible (Rob, you should put a banner on b3ta saying Coke are bunch of cunts).
Good luck Joel, hope this goes well.
come on Coca-Cola pay up – your naughty naughty ad agency have obviously heavily “borrowed” from the original video and music.
http://www.rathergood.com will be happy to accept your payment as compensation for this blatant plagiarism.
I asked Adrants to feature this (a link to my blog rant about your Coke rip-off), and they have, in their digest. See link.
Adrants is the #1 blog of the advertising community, so the word will spread well.
Never mind copywrite, the tune is blatently theft of interlectual property (if Joel can prove he wrote the tune before coke aired it). Also coke is a multi national company and therefore would fall under UK law. Although coca-cola probably paid an ad firm to come up with this ad, they still have an obligation to ensure that the material is original. I’ll get my brother (who did quite well in his law degree) to take a look at this ad from a legal stand point and let me know what he thinks, but it might be an idea to point out the similarities to Coca-cola uk and let them know that this type of thing will not be tollerated by ‘the little guy’ and that if remuneration isn’t forthcoming then it will be open season on Coca-cola (registerd trademark) by everyone with photoshop who are disgusted by their lazy, theiving mind piss.
erm, the idea of putting crap two-frame animations to cheesy music is hardly the preserve of rathergood.com. think dancingpaul for starters. this sort of thing is hardly original.
Joel = God
Cunty Cola = Devil
You work it out…
I shall be doing everything I can to help Coke if they decide to take action against that sinister cat molester for stealing their ideas.
Sorry if posted before, too drunk to look through but lets have a whip round and take on coke, failing that, lets have a damn good tab at the bar?
oh and joel gets 2 shots, woo!
Rob, you scare me.
well damn if that wasn’t the most joy inspiring flash animation i’ve ever seen.
and yeah, that’s definitely the same song. shame on coke. couldn’t they at least have gone for a different visual style? then it wouldn’t be as BAD of a blatant ripoff.
Hmmm… The music is pretty damn close, the anims are in the same style. If you made the video and the song after coke did it’s adverts and then sold it, do you think they’d hesitate to sue the pants off you? No way. Get a lawyer, man. The worst case scenario is you losing all the rights to your work and it’s not that unlikely to happen.
Umm… People keep saying that if you can prove chord sequences are the same, you’ve got a case. Listen to the original. Listen to the Coke ad. The opening piano intro is identical. Not similar. Identical. There are several places where Joel’s tune goes into an instrumental break. The Coke ad just splices them together — in fact, the place where they splice the instrumental without horns to the instrumental with horns is a very bad splice, they don’t quite catch the beat. This is a straight steal, even without the animation style.
I agree that is completely copied from Joel, even down tho the jumping and the movement in the flash video! That sort of behaviour is completely wrong and shouldn’t be allowed to happen without some repercussions for Coke…..how about a boycott?
I hate to rain on everyone’s parade, but (speaking as someone working in the ad industry) ad agencies nicking other people’s ideas is as old as the ark. Sony’s bouncing balls ad was nicked off the David Letterman show, the Honda Cog ad was “borrowed” from a speculative art film and if I could be bothered I could dig out dozens of other examples. The one thing they all have in common is that nobody was ever successfully sued on the grounds of “artistic” copying. Even agencies do it to each other, and complain about it, but nothing ever happens to the offenders.
The only thing that is likely to work is a campaign against the practice, especially one that targets the offending brand (although I doubt that anyone at Coke was aware of the origin of their web video).
[...] is coke ripping off the little guy? rob certainly thinks so, and it seems most people agree. i’m not going to go so far as swearing off coke. afterall, an addiction is an addiction, but it will be interesting to see what comes of this, if anything. [...]
“WE’RE IN UR INTERNET
STEALING UR IDEAS”
FFS, are they ripping you off? Of course they are! Firstly big companies do that, secondly rathergood is frankly genius and it would cost them a fortune if it could be done at all to get someone to come up with something as original, and thirdly the money aspect again, namely, that if you take them on, which I hope you can and do, I would imagine that the costs of any potential litigation would still be less than the gain from any potential advertising. It could simply be thought of as sound economic sense on their part. That said, do they have any scruples whatsoever?
I thought it would just be some almost vaguely similar rip-off but it is exactly the same! EXACTLY (apart from a few different people in the video and a slightly different composition of the notes)!
I think we should all pull together, donate a tenner and sue the bastards. It could be like a B3ta lottery – those who put some money in, get a share of the millions Joel will win :D
Im off to buy some coke, Yum!
AFAIK, you can’t nail them on the stylistic bouncing. You can, however, nail them on the music. Here’s how:
There is a section of international copyright law governing music and the ripping off thereof. It states that a piece of music can be considered a ripoff (and therefore something you can sue over) if the similarity between the pieces is such that the notes are identical with a small change every x notes.
The tricky part with this is that x is different in each country. I seem to remember it being every 4 notes in the UK, but only every 7 the rest of the EU. There was, for instance, some controversy a few years back where Gerry Haliwell did a tune that was verrrrrrry similar to someone else’s, but had artfully changed every fourth note and so got away with it.
The music nerds among you therefore need to AB the coke ad and Joel’s Ninja tune and see where the discrepancies are. Someone would also need to find out what x is in Argentina.
If, as seems likely to my ears, there is enough of a similarity, you have a case and can sue Coke, in Argentina.
Fishnchimps, you may have a point, but your examples are very different from this case of *blatant* plagiarism. The “speculative art film” from which you say Honda borrowed for their cog ad was made by the very same people who made that original film, Peter Fischli and David Weiss.
There’s an exhibition on their work on at the Tate modern now, by the way, and it’s brilliant!
Point taken destrasisnistra, but what I’m trying to say is that the culture of borrowing is entrenched within advertising. Based upon the brief given to a creative, if s/he then uses someone else’s idea then the creative director won’t give a shit where the idea came from, and neither will his CEO, as long as it looks good and it pleases the client.
Beg, borrow, steal…
Brew it yourself
NB. 1 batch of 7x formula will produce three batches cola syrup, or approximately 54 litres of cola.
Step 1: 7x formula:
Using food-grade essential oils, assemble 3.75ml orange oil; 3ml lime oil; 1ml lemon oil; 1 ml cassia oil (nb. reduce cassia content for next production); 0.75ml nutmeg oil; 0.25ml coriander oil (6 drops); 0.25ml lavender oil (6 drops); 0.25ml neroli oil (optional/removed due to high cost).
Using a measuring syringe, measure out the oils into a glass or ceramic container. Keep covered to avoid volatile oil fumes escaping. Then dissolve 10g instant gum arabic (equivalent to 22ml) in 20ml water (low calcium/low magnesium, Volvic is good) with one drop vodka – Cube uses Zubrowka. (Be aware that total quantity of vodka will be 0.0007ml per litre of Cube-cola).
Place the gum/water/vodka mix in a high-sided beaker – stainless steel or glass are best. Using a high-power hammer drill with kitchen whisk attachment, whisk the gum mixture at high speed while your assistant droppers the oils. Mix in steadily with the measuring syringe. Continue to whisk at high speed for 5-7 minutes, or until the oils and water emulsify.
The resulting mixture will be cloudy. Test for emulsification by adding a few drops of the mixture to one glass of water. No oils should be visible on the surface. You now have a successful flavour emulsion, which should hold for several months.
Step 2:The mixers
This makes two allied concentrates, Composition A and Composition B, which can be stored separately before being mixed into cold syrup with the addition of sugar and water.
Composition A
Mix 30 ml double strength caramel colouring (DD Williamson Caramel 050) with 10 ml water. While stirring, add 10ml 7x flavour emulsion (oils/gum/water mix).
Composition B
Mix 3 tsp (10ml) citric acid with 5-10ml water, then sieve in 0.75 tsp (2.75ml) caffeine. Mix thoroughly using a pestle and mortar until caffeine granules are no longer evident. The mixture may behave erratically, turning either white or clear for no apparent reason. If it goes white, add more water. Pass through muslin or jelly bag to remove any anomalies.
At this point, A+B can be packaged separately and later reconstituted into cola syrup.
Step 3: The cola syrup
2 litres water; 2kg sugar
Compositions A & B
Make a sugar syrup (mix in a cooking pot on low heat to dissolve quickly) using 1.5 litres of the water and all the sugar. Filter if unsure. Mix Composition A into the remaining 500ml water. Add Composition B, then the sugar syrup. You now have 3 litres Cube-Cola syrup or approx 18 litres cola.
Step 4: The cola
As required, make up your cola as a 5:1 mix, five parts fizzy water to one part cola syrup. Cube uses 350ml syrup in a 2l bottle of Tesco Ashford Mountain Spring. This cola recipe is released under the GNU general public licence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1832135,00.html
Cheeky fuckers!
I feel duty bound to clutch Joel to my bosom to sooth him. Rob, there is room for you too if you need it.
But, mictoboy, regardless of the visual style and its originality or otherwise, it’s the same music!
However the truth of the matter is that Joel Veitch is a time traveller and HE nicked the idea off THEM. But Pepsi made him do it. Or Shirley.
You’d think the cheeky fuckers couldn’t afford to hire someone reputable, instead of cutting corners by hiring some no-talent hack to rip off other people’s ideas.
But it goes on all the time. Once, when I was working for a design company we were specifically instructed to steal an entire website – fonts, graphics, colours, layout etc.
It would be a sweet irony if Joel ripped off Coke Argentina by making a remarkably similar video but with meerkats and the ninja cat, and severely dissing Coke to the point where Coke get pissed off and try and sue him. Now THAT would make an interesting case.
I wouldn’t be too quick to assume this is deliberate copying…. while the music is similar, it is pretty likely to be a coincidence. There’s not as much difference between pieces of music as people tend to think. basically what is the same (or nearly the same) here, is the chord sequence and general style. Now obviously the general style is not particularly unusual, and if you are writing a piece in this style your choice of chords is going to be restricted somewhat. As the sequence is only 4 bars long, it’s not suprising it crops up in different songs. The changes are I-V-IV-I. I, IV and V are the most commonly used chords especically in popular music, and there are only a certain number of possibilities.
do it. Sue the fuckers. have their nuts on a plate. You’ll get a stack of cash.
Well, that just sucks. I frequent Rathergood.com and if I saw the advert would have picked it up as a blatant copy straight away. What’s next Blode and Mtn Dew?
This is a monstrous pile of flange. I have a terrible feeling that there is nothing legal that can be done, what with Joel being in the UK and the ad agency being in Argentina.
How about Rob gets b3ta to have an “Entirely-legal-pictures-that-will-embarrass-Coca-Cola-into-acknowledging-7-Seconds-Of-Love-and-Joel-when-they-go-viral-and-end-up-in-the-Grauniad” picture competition?
PS: Did I see an advert for Orange in the paper the other day with stick men that look frighteningly like those made by Butters (apart from the lack of amputation and decapitation) the other day? Did you do them Butters?
I think joel went into the future, stole cokes idea, brought it back and tried to knacker it up to make a few bucks. Sneaky them brits are.. next thing .. he will be suing because he invented the Sixpackistan, where you get all liquored up and jahiiiid into the loo..
Herm. We have IP lawyers here — I’m sure we can get them to take a look, but it might cost.
And I’ve got a musicologist somewhere, if you’re interested…
i’m surprised that there hasn’t yet been a mention of other South American coke products.
Cuntery!
*frowns lots*
That’s a flippin’ liberty.
Go on Joel / Rob, you HAVE to tell Private Eye. First the Virgin thing, then Miss Eclectech… add yourself a little side project to get as many B3tan geniuses (genii?) into that esteemed organ.
lets all stop buying coke :) the drinksable sort of course, only problem is that pepsi tastes like pith and is only usefull for cleaning kitchens with
So…the obvious solution is to run a pic compo to promote coke
That should generate enough ire to knock out any cheap ad agencies who come a-stealing again – they’ll think ‘if I rob this idea for my client, loads of people will make things insulting my client and my client will think I’m a twunt’
Coke won’t have a clue what’s been commissioned in their name – you have to go after the ad agency that has commissioned this. Their clueless creatives will be the boys (always boys) who’ve ripped this off, commissioned some guy in his bedroom and sold it on for max wonga to coke.
Go after the agency – they will be sh*tting it that the big boss will find out and be mucho displeased.
If you’re not happy people take it up with Coke’s Corporate Responsibility team: crreview@na.ko.com or better yet a nice man called E. Neville Isdell.
BTW Coca Cola make this corporate statement on p5 of their Code of Conduct – “As a representative of the Coca Cola company you must act with honesty integrity in all matters”.
Aparently somebody somewhere hasn’t.
The agency:
http://www.santobuenosaires.com
I doubt you can do anything legally, but why not post it all over Digg, tell a couple of papers and just embarress Coke instead! I’m sure we could get enough people to see – its just like the Lotto ad who’d obviously seen that xmas display on youtube last year!
I can see it now: “New B3ta Image Challenge! Design Coke’s Next Rip-Off Ad!”
All you guys out there who do this kind of animation can get access to FREE legal representation as well as help on copywrite issues by joining a union like BECTU. (Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union)
They do a lot of work for all sorts of creative folk, freelancers as well. I know they have specialists in copywrite too. All sorts of other nice things as well come with membership.
http://www.bectu.org
“The reputation of The Coca-Cola Company is built on trust. Those who do business with us around the world know we are committed to managing our business with a consistent set of values that represent the highest standards of quality, integrity, excellence, compliance with the law and respect for the unique customs and cultures in communities where we operate. We seek to develop relationships with suppliers that share similar values and conduct business in an ethical manner.”
It is a custom of the community of B3ta to recognise people’s achievements in a variety of ways: compliment, ribaldry and so forth. Yet, the final analysis made by all has the ethic that, “commerce in these B3ta things has financial deserts for the originator.”
Coke, in their willingness to risk everything in getting their message to market have simply omitted to pay. Bill them. Not only bill them but do so at a level consistent with a national marketing campaign. Since your first language is – presumably – English, bill them for the original in English and the derivative translated work. Acknowledge that the work needed to be translated for local market conditions. Congratulate them on how faithful they have been to the spirit of the original. Bill them directly. Forget their Supplier, the advertising agency. Tell them terms are strictly GBP (Great Britain Pounds), payable in twenty eight days from invoice tax point.
Add to your letter a note that billing them directly is a consequence of their supplier having obviously not read their excellent document: http://www.cokefacts.org/facts/facts_aw_key_citizenship04.pdf
and taken on board the important message of ethics in business.
But above all Bill them properly, accurately and big.
Bill them for time, materials and VAT – if you are registered for VAT. The items you bill for must relate to the production. If you wish to add in a charge for introducing Coke, Virally, in the B3TA test market bill for that.
Do not bill for silly things that do not relate to the matter at hand.
Bill as much as you think reasonable.
Tell them you trust that they are happy with you work and look forward to dealing directly with them next time
The Coca-Cola Company is committed to achieving
the highest standards of governance and business
ethics. We regularly review our systems, codes and
policies to ensure we meet international best practices
of transparency and accountability.
The framework for corporate governance at our
Company consists of our Corporate Governance
Guidelines and the charters of the Board Committees.
These documents and a list of our Board members
are available on our Web site, http://www.coca-cola.com.
mailto:crreview@na.ko.com
Bill them. Whoever stole your idea has done you a favour by putting your product in front of a client. Now WHore yourself.
Got to agree with ‘why do i care’. Excellent plan.
I’ve had experience with tv concepts we’ve developed suddenly appearing in production after the odd loose conversation. It’s not nice and it’s not easy to sue over.
Copyright exists in the execution itself, so they would argue ‘yes there are similarities’ but we’ve changed it ‘enough’ to warrant it being an original, albeit inspired, piece of content.
Thankfully it’s coke, thankfully it’s a marketing campaign, so they’d be keen to make this bad taste go away as they’re so blatantly (morally at least) in the wrong.
hope helpful :)