Sean Combs' Unforgivable Allegedly Plagiarizes Art Glass by Tom Patti {Fragrance News}

Top: Compacted Gray with Clear and Ribs by Tom Patti.

Bottom: Unforgivable by Sean John

Four years after the launch of the blockbuster fragrance for men Unforgivable by Sean Diddy Combs (2005), a lawsuit alleges that the perfume flacon is a plagiarism of two works by glass artist Tom Patti...

Unfortunately, the perfume industry can be quite plagiaristic at times and is routinely feeding off derivative works, the polite term for lack of originality. What do you expect? These people are busy.

There is also something called "tradition" that is helpful for making more acceptable the vagueness that is authorship recognition in the fragrance industry.

It only seems to shock people who make real efforts at thinking in new ways.

The bottle design was also re-used for Unforgivable Black in 2008 and its creation is currently ascribed to designers James Gager and Johan Liden, who could not be reached for comments.

"A couple of years ago, my phone started ringing," the 65-year-old artist said yesterday in an interview. "Everywhere I went, people started congratulating me on the success of my fragrance container. I didn't know what they were talking about. Eventually, I realized that Combs had replicated my work."...

Read more...Cologne Bottle Gives Artist Sense of Déjà Vu

Sources: global package gallery; Heller gallery