Have you heard the one about the cartoon-drawing ceramic artist who sued Elon Musk for copyright infringement? It’s not an urban legend. It’s real. Here’s the backstory and how Tom Edwards is helping other potters avoid copyright infringement.
“I took a ceramics class in high school because my guidance counselor suggested it and fell in love that first week. I kept it up as a hobby through college. I graduated with a history major—few jobs–and decided I’d run away and joined the circus,” Tom said.
He opened a studio where he produced traditional ceramics and reduction ware full-time from 1978 through 1984. Originally Tom drew a dog named Wally as a joke. Then his Wally mugs drew the most customer attention at a craft fair.
“People filled my booth looking for the Wally pots. So WallyPots was born. Wally led to all types of imagery and cartoons on custom ceramics. People are buying an idea on the pot.” he said.
In 2017 Tom drew a cartoon of a farting unicorn and posted a photo of it to social media. Two months later that exact cartoon showed up as the screen icon in all the Tesla touch screens.
“I wasn’t asked about (using) it. I got more unicorn mug sales, but then a major magazine covering Musk and Tesla alleged that, ‘Elon Musk drew a farting unicorn.’ And I went: Wait! That’s my artwork! My resolution in 2018 was to do something about it,” Tom explained.
Tom realized he was negotiating with a major corporation so he hired a smart lawyer. He kept things off the radar until Tesla ignored their request for a fair use fee for six weeks. He reached out to a journalist friend at “Westword” in Denver which printed an article about the copyright issue. Then his rock musician daughter, Lisa Prank, tweeted about it. When Musk responded on Twitter, it started a Tweet Storm that was picked up by Sam Levin, a tech reporter at “The Guardian.” That’s when J.K. Rowling entered the Twitter fray sending the “Guardian” article to her followers. Musk and Tesla eventually agreed to settle.
“Funny story. I used some of the settlement to buy my first CerPrint ceramic decal printer so I can produce more WallyPots and easily add art to my work,” Tom said.
Tom is giving a two-part lecture at NCECA 2022. He’ll be talking about his epic copyright battle and then he’ll discuss copyright 101. “This is especially important for any ceramic artists using art from outside sources. It’s easy to infringe another artist’s copyright with the printing options we have today. It’s also easy to secure copyright permission with a little planning,” he said. There are also steps artists must take to copyright their own work.
CerPrint Ceramic Printer Giveaway
Assuring copyright is important. That’s why CerPrint is supporting Tom’s NCECA lecture by giving away a CerPrint Black or CerPrint Blue ceramic decal printing system ($695 value) to one of Tom’s lecture attendees. Must be present to win.
Tom mugged us, too!
The mug is one of his new COVID 2020 series. It is wheel-thrown, high fire porcelain. The decals were fired to 1440 F.
Follow Tom on Instagram @TomEdwardsPottery or go to https://www.wallypots.com.
NCECA “Fertile Ground”
March 16-19, 2022
Sacramento, CA
https://nceca.net/2022-sacramento/