The family of a 13-year-old autistic girl claims she was threatened with legal action by HBO after she uploaded a “Game of Thrones”-inspired piece of artwork on the website RedBubble. However, HBO insists that is “simply untrue.”
A rep for HBO denied the network went after the young artist. Instead, they shifted the blame to RedBubble.
“We love when fans are creative in their support of our programs. These works live online in many incarnations and in the past we have celebrated them by drawing attention to them. Many for-profit websites that sell products, such as RedBubble, take steps to avoid infringements as part of their standard operating procedure. To suggest a particular individual was targeted or that HBO threatened legal action against her is simply untrue.”
Felicity Wilcox's family told The Sun she received a “scary email” from lawyers at HBO claiming her art breached copyright.
Wilcox’s artwork included the show’s slogan “Winter is coming” above her design. Her father released a statement to The Sun about the alleged backlash from the network.
“HBO should get a life... My daughter who happens to be autistic, was doing an art challenge called Huevember. It consisted of doing a piece of art based on a different color as you worked your way round a color wheel. She was uploading her pictures to a variety of sites and sharing them on Facebook. For this particular piece she decided to title it ‘Winter is Coming’.”
Her artwork has since been republished without the slogan.
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