"Stories of commercial brands using artists’ work without their permission, and cashing in on the stolen designs, are unfortunately all too common. In May, when an image began circulating on Twitter of a new t-shirt sold by Gap that featured the logo of the Lesbian Avengers, a direct action group founded in 1992, many presumed the American retailer guilty of the exploitative practice, unscrupulously profiting from artists and the queer community.

"In reality, Gap had not only secured the permission of the artist, longtime Avengers collaborator Carrie Moyer, but also compensated her to reproduce the distinctive bomb graphic on the shirt, which also included a text about the group and the names of its founding activists. After running the project by three of the Lesbian Avengers’ six co-founders, Moyer sold the logo for $7,000 and donated the money to the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York. 

"But the three remaining founding members — Anne-Christine d’Adesky, Ana Maria Simo, and Sarah Schulman — say they were never consulted by the artist nor the company. They were shocked to discover the shirt advertised as part of the Gap Collective: Pride collection this spring, what they saw as an instance of 'the commodification and co-optation' of lesbian history."

Article: Who Owns the Logo of the Lesbian Avengers, Decades Later?