In February 2017, Elon Musk took to social media with a photograph of a mug designed by Colorado potter, Tom Edwards. Mr. Musk tweeted that the mug, which features a unicorn farting electricity, might be his “favorite mug ever.” Naturally, the Tweet caused a boost in sales of the mug.

Not long after his initial post, the Tesla founder followed-up with another Tweet of a strikingly similar farting unicorn design. This time, the image had been drawn on a Tesla sketch pad, which the post was intended to promote. By the end of the year, the electric car company had incorporated the image as an icon into Tesla’s operating system and even featured it in their company holiday cards.

At no point in all of this did Mr. Edwards provide permission, or receive compensation, for the use of his art. When Mr. Edwards (and his daughter) publicly expressed disappointment, Mr. Musk responded by tweeting, “he can sue for money if he wants, but that’s kinda lame. If anything, this attention increased his mug sales.”

Mr. Edwards did ultimately hire an attorney. He explained that it was more about standing up for artists in general than recouping funds for himself. Despite Mr. Musk’s open flippancy, he eventually reached an agreement with Mr. Edwards.

This “misunderstanding” (Mr. Edward’s words) brings up two points worth addressing.

First, this example really shows how “cut and dry” copyright infringement can be. Even though sales of Mr. Edwards mug increased with the attention garnered by Mr. Musk and Tesla’s infringements, they were still infringements.

Second, this is a good example of a local artist struggling to hang onto their intellectual property. Protecting IP is proving especially difficult in the internet age. Often, after promoting their work on social media or selling it on sites such as Etsy.com, they find larger companies taking their art and mass producing it. The idea of taking on one of these companies in court and incurring exorbitant legal costs can seem daunting. Luckily, many IP attorneys are creating fee arrangements where, rather than charging hourly, they will only get paid if the artist does. Plus, most of these cases settle. In fact, a lot of the time, all it takes it a Cease and Desist letter and a couple of phone calls between the attorneys to bring it to a close. If you ever find yourself in this unfortunate position, keep this in mind.