Louis Vuitton on Artist's Darfur Project: Bag It

In its cease-and-desist letter, Louis Vuitton alleges that the bag featured in Plesner's T-shirt is "confusingly similar" to "the Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore Trademark, a collaboration between Marc Jacobs, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton, and Takashi Murakami, a well-known contemporary Japanese artist."

The letter continues, "As an artist yourself, we hope that you recognize the need to respect other artists' rights and Louis Vuitton's intellectual property rights."

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ABCNEWS.com's calls to Louis Vuitton for comment were not immediately returned Monday. But Wednesday, Louis Vuitton representative Victoria Weld addressed the lawsuit's specific claims, saying "This issue is about the brand and core values of Louis Vuitton which we need to protect. In terms of the preliminary injunction claim and the claim on the merit, Louis Vuitton is only asking for symbolic Euro."

Weld declined to comment on the daily charges cited by Harris and Plesner.

Plesner isn't the only artist to use Louis Vuitton's logo and accessories to make a statement. Last weekend, artist Peter Gronquist opened a solo show at a Los Angeles gallery featuring his $4,500 Louis Vuitton electric chair -- a wooden electric chair printed with the company's monogram and outfitted with Louis Vuitton buckles for wrist and ankle straps. Gronquist's works also include a chainsaw embossed with Fendi's logo and a machine gun clad in Burberry tartan.

And there's a long history of artists using high-fashion logos. In 1985, Andy Warhol turned Chanel into an icon with his pop art take on the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle.

Nine years later, contemporary artist Tom Sachs created a Christmas scene for the windows at Barneys New York called "Hello Kitty Nativity," replacing the Virgin Mary with a Hello Kitty figurine dressed in Chanel and Nike. In 1998, he made the Chanel Guillotine (Breakfast Nook) -- a table for two set perpendicular to a guillotine covered in the French designer's logo.

Considering how Plesner's T-shirt fits into this tradition, Harris calls Louis Vuitton's lawsuit a cheap shot at an artist trying to do good.

"Especially at a time when France has done so much to shed light on what's going on in Darfur, it's sad that Louis Vuitton would take this position," he said.

"We're going to meet with them at the end of the month in Paris to discuss this," he continued. "It's really our hope that they use this as an opportunity to take a position on Darfur. When you look at all the good work that Gucci did raising money for Malawi, this could be Louis Vuitton's chance to step up to the plate."