Heading toward the second year of its legal battle against Disney and Target, a small Seattle design firm needs help to keep the fight going. In September 2011, the owners of Modern Dog found out that a new T-shirt being sold at Target seemed to include dog sketches featured in its own book, Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art. (You can watch a side-by-side comparison below.) The T-shirt was part of Disney's "Sharpay Collection," made to promote Ashley Tisdale's High School Musical spinoff, Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure. In January, Modern Dog filed suit against Target, The Walt Disney Co., Disney Enterprises, Disney Consumer Products and Jaya Apparel Group. In June, Modern Dog owners Robynne Raye and Michael Strassburger sold their house to help finance the lawsuit. With months to go until their court date next September, Modern Dog has created a crowdsourced fundraising campaign called "Friends of Modern Dog." They've raised $27,000 and have a goal of reaching $40,000 by Nov. 30. They're hoping designers from around the world will pitch in to help. "Throughout our career we received a lot of great support from the design community," Strassburger and Raye write on the fundraising site, "and right now we need your help more than ever." Hat tip to AdPulp for highlighting this case.
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