EVERGREEN, CO (KCNC/CNN) - A Colorado artist is known for his particular unicorn design, and it caught the eye of billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk.
But what Musk did with that design is not passing the artist's smell test.
The cause of the dispute? A mug with a farting unicorn.
"This is a design I've been doing since 2010," said artist Tom Edwards.
What began as a playful poke at electric cars - depicting them being powered by unicorn farts - has turned Edwards into an internet sensation.
“Okay, this is a natural bodily function,” Edwards explained about passing gas. “The unicorn is farting into this container and then it's going through a cord and powering the electric car."
The whimsical creation caught the eye of Musk, noted maker of electric cars.
He took to Twitter about the tooter last year.
“He said it was quite possibly his favorite mug ever,” Edwards said.
Edwards added the billionaire's tweet gave him a small boost in sales.
“Well you know, a farting unicorn is sales magic,” he said.
But a couple months later, Edwards got wind that Tesla was using a copy of his bottom-blasting unicorn to promote the car’s new operating system.
"The straw that broke the camel's back was at Christmas, they sent out a Christmas greeting and it had my artwork on it,” he said.
So, he got a lawyer to reach out to Tesla for compensation.
With no response from the company, Edwards’ daughter let it rip on Twitter, firing away at Musk.
"(She) said hey, how come you're not compensating my dad?" Edwards said.
Before deleting his response, Musk called Edwards “kinda lame” if he chose to sue for money.
Musk argued he's who made the mugs popular. But he said he would stop using the unicorn if that's what Edwards wants.
"That's not the point. The point is they've already used it and that's how copyright works,” Edwards said.
Edwards said he isn't sure yet how much his lawyer will seek for compensation.
The artist said the only real solution to this issue is if Tesla gives him the compensation for that artwork.
As for its worth, he said it’s hard to establish the value, now that Musk has gotten a year's worth of use out of it.
He said he just wants to defend his hand-crafted creation.
"Artists really need to protect their work,” he said.
So many people want to now get their hands on one of the colorful mugs that Edwards said they're back ordered until mid-July.
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