The artist whose work was appropriated by Apple and turned into a commercial for the iPhone says he feels ripped off but is not going to sue—for now.

A sequence from Christian Marclay's 1995 film Telephones comprises a montage of actors in famous films answering the phone. Apple's "Hello" ad, which debuted during the Oscars, has a near-identical feel, though it features different footage. (The similarity was first noted here.)

Marclay, who has not commented on the matter until now, confirms it was no coincidence. "They approached us [about using Telephones] and I said no, and then they just went ahead," he says. "The way they dealt with the whole thing is pretty sleazy."

[Marclay's Telephones sequence after the jump!]

Marclay was out of town for the Oscars and did not watch the broadcast. He caught the ad on YouTube, after a friend alerted him to the likeness.

He says he looked into legal action but was assured by his lawyer "there's nothing I can do about it. They have the right to get inspired." Of course, in other cases, such obvious "inspiration" might be called copyright infringement. In this instance, however, Marclay's rights may be limited as his own film consisted of copyrighted works by other artists.

While he won't rule out a lawsuit definitively, he says he doesn't like the idea of going to court over it. "This culture's so much about suing each other that if we want to have anything that's more of an open exchange of ideas, one has to stop this mentality. I'm just honored that they thought my work was interesting enough that they felt they could just rip it off."

Asked about the ad, an Apple spokeswoman says only, "In general we don't comment on any marketing efforts or strategies."

Marclay's Telephones sequence begins at 3:38 in this video: