Polo Ralph Lauren v. Boing Boing [1]

In October 2009, Ralph Lauren [2] sent a DMCA takedown notice to Boing Boing [3]'s webhost, Priority Colo, alleging that Boing Boing's posting of a Ralph Lauren advertisement [4] violated its copyright. The Ralph Lauren advertisement featured a photograph of an improbably skinny model that appeared to have been photoshopped, and Xeni Jardin's post on Boing Boing reproduced the advertisement with a critical caption: "Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis."  [5]Priority Colo and Boing Boing refused [5] to remove the post, citing fair use.

The advertisement originally came to Jardin's attention via another blog, Photoshop Disasters [6]. Photoshop Disasters published the advertisement with its own critical caption: "Make her head bigger than her pelvis! Do it!" Ralph Lauren also sent a DMCA takedown notice [7] to Blogger, Photoshop Disasters' blog host, which removed the image.  (The original post is still available through Google's cache [8].)  It is not clear whether Photoshop Disasters submitted a counter-notification and whether the post will be restored.

After a great deal of media attention [9] stemming from the takedown notices, Ralph Lauren acknowledged responsibility for photoshopping the image in a statement saying, "[f]or over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body."