Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal
Design student found guilty of blackmailing high profile car designers
Engineers and marketing specialists invariably inject reality into a designer's original vision before it ever hits the streets. Despite these intrinsic modifications, one former design student claimed he created the original inspiration for the Mazda RX8, Audi TT, BMW Z3 and Volvo XC90. Guy Lloyd-Parker believed the vehicles were spawned from some of the 95 drawings that were stolen from him by college lecturers at The London College of Fashion in 1994. After Mr. Lloyd-Parker was unsuccessful in receiving compensation from the college, he went after the top designers at each of the above mentioned automobile manufacturers. He sent threatening letters to Tsutomu Matano (formerly of Mazda), Geza Loczi (Design Director of Volvo), and Henrik Fisker (formerly of BMW and currently associated with Aston Martin and his own bespoke company). The mailings, titled "The Truth," demanded large sums of money in exchange for withholding "the whole truth" from the media. The letters also called the designers "liars, thieves and cheats." Now it looks like the real truth has been revealed as Guy Lloyd-Parker has been found guilty of three accounts of blackmail.
[Source: Car Design News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
clevershark 12:45PM (2/12/2008)
I think this is a phenomenon known as "not thinking your cunning plan all the way through".
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iSpec 12:46PM (2/12/2008)
Yeah, I am sure Mr. Parker had high powered lawyers like those on retainer at BMW and Ford (Mazda and Volvo).
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Level 12:49PM (2/12/2008)
I agree...Even if they were his designs, fighting it out against top dogs you wonldnt have a chance to win...
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RUDEBOi 12:51PM (2/12/2008)
what an absolute moron.
it's one thing to be talking nonsense... and its a completely different thing to be running around threatening individuals protected by corporate money!!
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Seoultrain 12:57PM (2/12/2008)
lol, if you have no proof, you have no case. If you really had the talent to design all those cars, you can surely find some more and get hired somewhere.
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3seriesisking 12:59PM (2/12/2008)
What an idiot. How do you going ruining your entire career just like that? Just another case that prove greed and idiocy are intrinsically intertwined.
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Menice 1:18PM (2/12/2008)
now that i think about it...
i designed the AMC Pacer when i was 6! those pricks stole my turtle car and called it their own!
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porschedevotee 8:06PM (2/12/2008)
I designed shock absorbers when I was six ;) My technically-inept mother thought I was brilliant
Maestro1 1:21PM (2/12/2008)
lol!
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jw_concept 1:29PM (2/12/2008)
I'm pretty sure a certain import motorcycle/car manufacturer "borrowed" some ideas from a student project I did 2 years ago with a recent concept truck that debuted at the Tokyo motor show a few months back. I suppose It could be just a huge coincidence! Who knows. But I don't think so.
you decide.
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_set.asp?from_url=true&sort_by=1&set_id=105703&individual_id=166583
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iSpec 1:30PM (2/12/2008)
What is the truth?
'You Can't Handle the Truth"
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NarutoRamen 1:44PM (2/12/2008)
What a freakin idiot.
On the flip side. I studied in Mr. Matano's dept. in Academy of Art in San Fran. He's the head of Industrial Design there.
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Nellydesign 1:58PM (2/12/2008)
I'd say the concept is very similar and probably borrowed by the automaker's designer, but the overall designs are still different. There really are no carryover features or elements, just an overall shape and concept.
So yeah I see what your saying but it's by no means a total ripoff. I'd just try to be happy that work I did in school inspired a working designer:)
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jw_concept 2:56PM (2/12/2008)
The main similarities would be the proportions. Short but tall using COE (cab over engine) in a personal use or work truck to get a short overall length. Things you just don't see in the market today. As far as carryover features go, the thing that really got me was the storage in the bedside walls from my concept. Which until the last few months I'VE never seen. Now there's another mfr doing that too. Oh well. Not like there's anything I can do. Just saying. heh. It could always have been a huuge coincidence. ;-)
clevershark 2:45PM (2/12/2008)
"i designed the AMC Pacer when i was 6!"
You must be telling the truth. No one would boast of that if it weren't true...
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Gardiner Westbound 3:11PM (2/12/2008)
Mr. Parker's position should not be blithely dismissed. College lecturers routinely misappropriate good student work, saying it was misplaced and promising to look for it. The student, wholly dependent of the lecturer's goodwill for marks, is constrained from pursuing the issue. The student graduates and the issue is forgotten, until the work resurfaces.
Few individuals have sufficient financial resources to successfully take on a large corporation.
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SPG 3:17PM (2/12/2008)
I thought I designed all those cars.
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Rick 4:04PM (2/12/2008)
So did they steal his ideas is the main question?
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k.w.a 4:36PM (2/12/2008)
I think he lost all credibility when instead of actually telling "The Whole Truth" and taking it to court, he asked for large sums of money to keep quiet. would you do that if someone actually stole a design from you?
spacegravity4me 4:08PM (2/12/2008)
hey, nice design man. Is that done in pastels or something? And have you ever had anything on cardesignnews.com? I think I might even have a picture of one of your designs somewhere on my pc if you have. Pretty good work man.
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