Gallery Model Homes Faces Trial in Art Pop-Up Copyright Suit

Gallery Model Homes Inc. failed to defeat a copyright infringement lawsuit over furniture exhibits designed by an artist who also helped create an art pop-up for the Texas-based FOMO Factory.

The furniture franchise, doing business as Gallery Furniture, couldn’t prove that it didn’t copy the art from The FOMO Factory LLC, Judge Sim Lake wrote, so whether the exhibits are substantially similar is a question for a jury trial.

FOMO had hired Kara Whitten to create some of its pop-up rooms in Austin and later Houston. Whitten was later hired by Gallery Model Homes to introduce furniture from Tov ...