The family of an autistic girl in her early teenage years claimed that HBO asked her to take down her "Game of Thrones"-inspired artwork and threatened her with legal action for using a famous tagline from the series. However, the network has denied the family's allegations, calling them "untrue."
Felicity Wilcox, 13, participated in an amateur art competition on the website Redbubble and shared a photo of her creation online with the words "Winter is Coming" written across the artwork. The teenage girl and her family claim they were shocked when they received a threatening email from HBO.
The threatening email said that Wilcox had breached copyright and asked her to take down the picture immediately or face legal action, according to Daily Mail. Her parents expressed their anger over the email, saying that their daughter was extremely scared after HBO threatened her with a lawsuit.
The girl's father, Jonathan Wilcox, told the publication that the network should sympathize with their daughter's condition as she is suffering from autism. He also pointed out that Felicity was doing an art challenge called "Huevember," in which participants have to create a piece of art using different shades of color as they work their way around a color wheel. He noted that she shared her painting on various social media platforms when she received the email.
A rep for HBO, however, has denied the Wilcox family's claims and instead pinned the blame on RedBubble. "We love when fans are creative in their support of our programs," the network said in a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly. "These works live online in many incarnations and in the past we have celebrated them by drawing attention to them.
"Many for-profit websites that sell products, such as Redbubble, take steps to avoid infringements as part of their standard operating procedure," the network added. "To suggest a particular individual was targeted, or that HBO threatened legal action against her, is simply untrue."
The email received by Felicity shows that it originated from Redbubble and not by HBO. In the past, HBO has issued several warnings to Redbubble to refrain from selling unauthorized products that use their copyrighted material. It remains to be known whether Wilcox's painting prompted HBO to notify Redbubble or if it was just a pro-active measure by the company.
Watch Felicity and Jonathan interview in the video below: