Jeremy Scott settles lawsuit with NHS, Inc.

Poor Jeremy Scott. Back in June of 2012 the fashion designer's "shackle shoes," were accused by many of being racist. Adidas pulled the shoes and Jeremy Scott insisted he was merely paying a tribute to My Pet Monster.

At the time I wrote about it, I ended the article thusly:

"Fair enough. He isn't racist. WE AGREE! End of story! Except...unless he got permission for his tribute ...it kinda sounds like...he might be infringing...on someone else's....copyright. No?"

And now, here we go again. As reported extensively by HighSnobiety, he has apparently, allegedly done just that.

Ending a six month in the making lawsuit, highly respected street artists Jimbo and Jim Phillips have settled out of court with Mr. Scott.

Skateboard company NHS, INc/Santa Cruz Skateboards brought the infringement suit with good reason. Again from High Snobiety, in a release from February, NHS CEO Bob Denike had this to say:

Talking to Jim Phillips Sr. and Jimbo Phillips, they have concluded that Jeremy Scott obtained a copy of Jim Phillips Sr. book “The Skateboard Art of Jim Phillips” published in 2007. There is some obscure art in the book that Jeremy Scott lifted and it could only have come from that book.”

What's even more dickish about it is that NHS reached out to Scott hoping he'd do the right thing but he initially hid behind his lawyer instead. Now some six months later, he has agreed not to produce the items and destroy them and had to release a tail-between-his-legs mea culpa statement. Far as I'm concerned, too little too late. Dude has done this twice that we know of now. Brands should think twice about being associated with a serial thief.

My favorite part about this story is that when asked if NHS would consider a partnership or licensing deal with Scott, now that they've gotten all this *cough cough* exposure Denike responded:

“I do not believe in the idea that any publicity is good publicity. There was a lot of interest in this issue, but we do not need this type of PR to help grow our brands. It was actually quite damaging to us. We don’t want to be associated with Scott.”

Bravo, Jim Phillips, Jimbo, Bob Denike and all those people at NHS.