Scene: Garnet Station, Westmere
Cone: Happy New Year Cowgirl!
Cowgirl: Happy New year Cone. I hope we’ve put a stop to your kind being strung out all over Auckland.
Cone: Nope! Haven’t you seen the current big job on Great North Rd? We were deployed while everyone was out of town on holiday, he he he.
Cowgirl: That’s not the attitude I want to hear from you Cone.
Cone: Ah well the trees have been cut down, side streets are fenced off, it’s a thing of beauty.
Cowgirl: How can you say that?
Cone: Because I’m famous now, thanks to you. Auckland Transport copied that Facebook post you made of me a couple of years ago, talking!
Cowgirl: You’re joking? AT using you to spinning their own story.
Cone: For real, I get put in a tree by some kids and rescued by a traffic management guy who is the hero of the story, it only cost them $30,000 to make it.
The Cowgirl has whipped out her phone, found the clip and is open mouthed incredulous at what she is seeing.
Cowgirl: $30,000 this is an outright breach of copyright
Cone: Sounds technical, and dangerous, what are you going to do?
Cowgirl: Sue them!
Cone: Because you did it first and they copied you?
Cowgirl: That’s right and more to the point it only cost me $14 to animate you. My original video is a work of art that is automatically protected from being copied by anyone else.
Cone: But they changed the story
Cowgirl: I created you as a piece of satire to draw attention to Auckland Transport spending $786 million on temporary traffic management and producing cones.
Cone: I’m only worth $71 dollars brand new, there must be an army of us?
Cowgirl: Yes exactly, but they’ve flipped the story around to make them seem like heroes as they fleece the public, business as usual.
Cone: Oh dear, I don’t like being manipulated like this, it doesn’t feel very nice, they’ve made me out to be weak and defenceless.
Cowgirl: As your creator I am protected from copycat rip offs for my whole lifetime plus 50 years.
Cone: That’s quite a long time, so you’re going to stop this happening to us?
Cowgirl: Yes I am and Auckland Transport should have licensed the rights to use you.
Cone: Why don’t you open an Ad Agency?
Cowgirl: Not a bad idea my little talking cone, there’s $3.5 million up for grabs to advertise what A.T is up to.
Cone: Will you really sue them?
Cowgirl: Don’t see why not, it’s clear to me that AT knew about your Facebook debut because the scripts were published in the Ponsonby News, then Gael Baldock made sure that A.T got copies of them.
Cone: Good on you Cowgirl, I wouldn’t be me if it wasn’t for you!
Lisa Prager
Westmere
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