Stuff like this has been going on for years, especially in the music industry. I have to admit though that this mans design is remarkably similar to what we saw at the Olympics opening ceremony. – jumist
there are coincidences `but` this is a copy !!!!! if the kid really sent in that pic he has been ripped off and should sue the shirt of boyles back !!! – steveholt
He might have a case ……. – smugshot
He should be given credit where credit is due. I thought it sucked, but if they used his concept and idea he should at least be recognised. Hard to prove in any case so many things are similar to other things. – Kevin
I made a sandcastle exactly like that in 1962. Can i sue him as well? – Macbert
Did you submit your sandcastle to the olympic comittee for inclusion in the olympics to have the idea rejected and then used anyway? And our audience said…. no. – Kez
I hope some honest person gives him the proof he needs!. to many people steal others ideas, I am no artist, but many years ago at school we were ask to do a painting and that some visitors were coming to see them, I did a painting of various leaves from trees and seperated them of in a fancy way, it was admired and when I went to take my painting to give to my mother I was told I could’nt as they wanted to use for something, The visitor was a student and related to the headteacher, many years later I saw my painting , now a design in a shop window, I was livid , it was a very expensive shop….. I would have rather my mum had got it. – A Glancey
(1) All creators borrow, but the art of creation in the modern, litigous world is to hide your sources. (2) An idea bursts out at a certain time: unknown to each other, several artists can have a similar idea at roughly the same time – so a succesful litigation would have to disprove this claim. – Simon
That’s all hypothetical, and you can’t simply ‘borrow’ from another artist without given approval. It seems to me this idea was ripped off without permission and Boye has made a tidy sum of money from it. – Stephen
Come on Simon… He submitted the idea to a committee that was directly linked to Danny Boyle… Need to know more? – Pedro
Oh come on! This is hardly a new idea, in fact I saw something similar on Grand Garden Designs a decade ago. But I suppose if you’re a mediocre artist desperate for money, taking Danny Boyle to court might get you a few quid. – Robin the Hood
I think everyone is missing the point, the idea was submitted to LOCOG as an idea for the opening ceremony that is why it seems possibly more than just chance that the idea was used. – Cephas
No, the “artist” is missing the point. Apart from a hill with a path around it, there is nothing in common with Danny Boyle’s concept. In fact I wopuld suggest that Lee Sendall nicked the idea from a number of sources including an existing hill with paths (as his sketch shows unless he considered building a motorway, coastline and mountain inside Wembley. – Robin the Hood
The resemblances are too close to be coincidence. Litigation is almost undoubtedly unaffordable and equally unnecessary; In the eyes of many Danny Boyle’s name and reputation will be tarnished. What a pity, when a simple acknowledgement was all that was required. Some of the posts here are little short of disgusting! Shame on youse. – Val Gaize
Looking at his blog entry the artist seems to have a compelling case against Boyle. – PJ
Lee Sendall’s 2009 competition entry…….ah well….a bit amateurish? <<Sendall – who explains his claims in detail on his blog – told the Daily Telegraph that he had been BOMBARDED WITH MESSAGES from people who had seen his original design, which he had made into a series of postcards with fellow artist Dominic Heffer.>> Poor guy. I hope he survived the bombardment from all these idiots they obviously missed the fact that HE “stole” the idea in the first place. Good luck, Mr Sendall – Barbara
Just another skint artist looking for a quick buck, methinks. – rodthemod
you mean another skint artist being ripped off. – Dennis
Danny Boyle may not have seen the art submission but perhaps his art assistants did! – Brummie Girl
Lived at the foot of Glastonbury Tor for years, it is not that shape and it has the tower of a ruined church ,St Michaels, at the top not a tree. But I suppose a church tower would have offended some people. Boyles is really nothing like our Glastonbury Tor – Michael Cooper
Erm, Yahoo! is there something missing in this sentence? “A LOCOG spokesman told The Art Newspaper that Boyle had taken the idea…” Should there be a ‘not’ in there somewhere? Otherwise, it’s looking pretty good for Mr Sendall’s case. – CL
ideas are not copyrighted, nor copyrightable – but you can have moral rights to an idea. A design though is copyrighted as long as it is put to paper…. – Sirius Bizniz
It’s his intellectual property, AND there’s a ton of proof of that. The only thing difficult to prove is whether or not Boyle caught so much as a glimpse of the original artwork – which is why this publicity might help, someone might have shown Boyle some of these postcards or something else with the idea on it, and they might chip in for their pound of flesh. – Kazz
‘Danny Boyle said about a year before the olympics that he took his inspiration from the English countryside.’ – Not to say Boyle copied or not, but that sentence is not much of an argument when the image was created and recreated (in the form of a postcard; easily distributed without descrimination as to who sees it) three years prior to the Olympics. – Stephen
Could be that great minds think alike, I go for a pee now as fools seldom differ too. – Tom Mcmanus
Sirius, it WAS brought onto a media. First, it was entered into a competition and short-listed – which means it came to the attention of far more people than the ones which weren’t short-listed – and then it was printed on postcards which were sold on to the general public! You can’t really get much more proof than that of intellectual property, short of publishing it in a national newspaper. Not to say they didn’t come up with the idea independently of course, I’d guess it’ll be impossible to prove either way unless someone states that they sent him one of these postcards or something similar. But at least they’re both getting publicity out of this 😉 – Kazz
Initially i thought B***S*#$%$ just a coincidence, & even liked Russell’s comment below. Then i followed the link in the article & read his blog, & compared the pictures etc. Then i followed the ‘Arts Professional’ link in his blog, then i done little bit of googling……. & now i’m convinced this guy genuinely had his idea & design ripped off!. – Old
Got chocked for a second, as I can’t imagine Susan Boyle stealing anything. – Hyp Hen
If this idea was ripped off, well it’s a lazy man who did it. Unfortunately for this artist, there is no copyright in ideas. If there was such a law, there would only ever be ‘one’ of anything. After all how many more magic themed TV series are we going to see, as bred from Harry Potter? JKR would spend all her time in Court suing people for God’s sake! Plagiarism is the theft; but not the same thing as taking an idea and developing it. Although, if Boyle did see the guy’s work first, he could have been a little more subtle! – Serpico
There’s always some muppet like Lee Merrill Sendall trying to make a quick buck out of a genius who had the guts and brain to put it all together so brilliantly. Go Danny Boy – go! FuckOff Sendall !!! – chocol8
Somewhere out there is a tree, tirelessly producing oxygen so you can breathe. I think you owe it an apology. – L
L…. If I stopped breathing, the tree will have less CO2 to absorb. – chocol8
Looks more like he will get sued by the makers of Walnut Whips! – LJ
No, none of us knows whether the idea was “borrowed”, but having been ripped off by big companies who just shrugged and said “prove it” when challenged, I tend to side with the non-celebrity on these things. People are always very quick to side with the big names and assume that others are trying to cash in on their creativity, when the opposite is just as commonly the case. I repeat, none of you knows! – Foureyes
Let’s put it another way: if someone had shown you the drawing and then said, ‘Ok folks, how close to the original idea did Mr Boyle stick?’, you would say 100%. This looks EXACTLY like the idea used for the ceremony. – Rob
Another money making scheme by a failed wannabee – Saxonexile
he coincidence is too obvious to dismiss. I am an artist and it is virtually impossible to come up with a design so similar as this one for the same event. Of course Bowle was influenced by it – but he has not actually plagerised the design, he has used his own version. It is though – suspicious! but very very hard to prove. NOT WORTH THE FUSS! – Gilchap
Hey Sendall, If it was me I’d keep quiet about being behind this rubbish!!! – David
Anyone who can’t see that’s a rip off must be blind or stupid. – Ninefingers
Why now? Why didn’t he raise this the day after the opening ceremony? – D
“Why now? Why didn’t he raise this the day after the opening ceremony?” Maybe he did. Maybe it’s only just worked it’s way to the front page of Yahoo! Do you seriously think a little man with no funding can, the day after, have his newsworthy (if it is that) story hit the headlines? It doesn’t work like that. If you feel it does, you try it! – Sean
Actually, he first wrote about it on the 11th of August. Look at his blog… – Bang
Next week Lee Merrill Sendal threatens to sue London itself saying “that Thames they’ve got running through it looks exactly like a river I once drew!” It’s a hill man… you can’t copy write a hill, we’re not in America now! – Steve
I hope he sues him successfully. This is practically the same idea as the one ‘designed’ by Danny Boyle. Every detail is so similar it beggars belief that he thought he could get away with it. It wasn’t even worth the money anyway !!! – W Mcormick
Typical Cod Head always after something for nothing. Try a no win no fee company like the rest of Hull do – Goolie 75
Before you have a go at this artist, remember how the London Olympic Committee themselves persecuted every single shopkeeper, stall-holder, small businesses, and various individuals who used anything that remotely looked like their logo. Be fair-minded. – Idl
I suspect this “British artist” is just an unemployed bloke who likes painting trying to supplement his benefits. – James
My sympathies are with the artist. This is once in a lifetime opportunity – a bit like guessing all the right lottery numbers and then finding out your card wasn’t entered. He must feel pretty gutted if it’s true. Insurmountable legal fees are always the problem for ordinary plaintiffs. No win no fee anyone!!?? – Amuse
Given how ‘left field’ Boyle’s idea was; it is remarkable that a similar idea was put forward to THE GAMES before Boyle’s plans went firm. We can take it for granted that two artists have exactly the same (leftfield) idea for such an event or otherwise think, do you know what the chances of that are pretty remote…. – Standby
Large Spiral Mound 2012 
Public comments from the media….
Some of the commentary by members of the public seems worth preserving here for posterity. Frankly, due to the way this was reported I am surprised that so many were supportive. Probably there are equally as many who are not, and as many again who are just insulting, rude or humorous.
Here is my favourite tweet on the matter: