Back in September, we introduced you to New York’s Pod Hotel, an ultra-hip, ultra-affordable accommodation that brings modern style to a new price bracket in an often exorbitantly expensive city.  Now, unfortunately, we’ve learned that the Pod’s low prices appear to have come at a price.  The hotel’s parent company, Easthill Hotel Corp, along with their fabric supplier Swavelle/Mill Creek Fabrics, has just lost a lawsuit brought against them by the famed Eames company and Maharam Fabrics. 

Their issue?  The design used on the Pod Hotel’s marketing material, as well as the bedding found in their designer rooms, looked an awful like Maharam’s famed Dot Pattern fabric, a mid-century classic designed by Charles and Ray Eames.  Apparently the Federal Court agreed that the similarities between Swavelle/Mill Creek’s design and the Eames original were a little too close for comfort.  Pod Hotel will be required to change the bedding in their hotel rooms, and to use a different design on the hotel website and marketing materials.  The Hotel and fabric company have not admitted to deliberately copying the pattern, nor have they denied it.  However, they have issued a formal apology.  Other Eames fans who aren’t prepared to pony up for the real deal should pay attention to this incident -- according to Michael Maharam, his company intends to “vigorously protect its licensed designs.”