Artist sues games organizers for using artwork without permission

[officeglenn]

CBC.ca story

So basically, as I understand it:

• Artist designs medals for Canada Winter Games, signs agreement with organizers saying design can be used for non-commercial purposes

• Local car dealerships supply vehicles for games, and medal artwork is placed on those vehicles

• After games are finished, dealerships attempt to sell cars, leaving medal artwork on and using that as major selling point

• Artist sues, claiming the sale of cars with artwork breaches non-commercial clause in agreement and seeks $65,000 in compensation

Thoughts? Does she have a case?

[sc49erfan15]

CBC.ca story

So basically, as I understand it:

• Artist designs medals for Canada Winter Games, signs agreement with organizers saying design can be used for non-commercial purposes

• Local car dealerships supply vehicles for games, and medal artwork is placed on those vehicles

• After games are finished, dealerships attempt to sell cars, leaving medal artwork on and using that as major selling point

• Artist sues, claiming the sale of cars with artwork breaches non-commercial clause in agreement and seeks $65,000 in compensation

Thoughts? Does she have a case?

I'm just a small town pizza lawyer... but I'd think so.

[BrandMooreArt]

i dont want to read through the entire claim document, but after reading the article the short answer is yes. this is her legal right.

the article states there were no discussions about copyright of art, but im betting it was written in her contract. plus, unless stated otherwise in the contract, it's still copyright infringement and she has a case here. the move may be a bit douche-y; the work wasn't stolen but never removed before promotion of the car sales. still, legally, it is a breach. it sounds like she did it for the greater good and i would be on-board with that - using a story like this to make headlines and spread awareness about something that happens a lot. i just don't think this quite fits into cases where work actually is stolen.

if she wanted to really "teach them a lesson", she should have waited until the cars were sold and then she possibly could have claimed all the profits from the dealership made on those sales. but, even if her intent really is driven by greed then good on her still. make dat money, girl.

[sc49erfan15]

i dont want to read through the entire claim document, but after reading the article the short answer is yes. this is her legal right.

the article states there were no discussions about copyright of art, but im betting it was written in her contract. plus, unless stated otherwise in the contract, it's still copyright infringement and she has a case here. the move may be a bit douche-y; the work wasn't stolen but never removed before promotion of the car sales. still, legally, it is a breach. it sounds like she did it for the greater good and i would be on-board with that - using a story like this to make headlines and spread awareness about something that happens a lot. i just don't think this quite fits into cases where work actually is stolen.

if she wanted to really "teach them a lesson", she should have waited until the cars were sold and then she possibly could have claimed all the profits from the dealership made on those sales. but, even if her intent really is driven by greed then good on her still. make dat money, girl.

Yeah, the cars were sold (presumably at a markup) using her logo as a selling point. She should get a cut of that.

[jaker52]

Assuming there was a clear cut non-commercial agreement, I believe so.

[wjlandryjr]

On 5/22/2015 at 5:21 PM, officeglenn said:

CBC.ca story

So basically, as I understand it:

• Artist designs medals for Canada Winter Games, signs agreement with organizers saying design can be used for non-commercial purposes

• Local car dealerships supply vehicles for games, and medal artwork is placed on those vehicles

• After games are finished, dealerships attempt to sell cars, leaving medal artwork on and using that as major selling point

• Artist sues, claiming the sale of cars with artwork breaches non-commercial clause in agreement and seeks $65,000 in compensation

Thoughts? Does she have a case?

3

Sorry, to bump an old thread, but this struck a nerve as I dealt with a very similar case as well. As I highlighted the most important part in red on why this designer has a case. It doesn't matter about the non-commercial clause as it was used SOLEY for the Canada Winter Games. That's between the 2 of them, the Games committee and the dealership. However, if the agreement was done correctly, the Games was OVER which pretty much is a cease and desist to stop using the artwork to push further sales on vehicles. Sure you can sell trade or whatever the hell you want but you can NOT continue to use the artwork which was designed strictly for the Games promo.

 

Simply put... Promo going on? Use the artwork based on agreement/clause. Promo over? Cease and Desist the artwork until new agreement/clause is formed based on what the artist wants to do.

[MJWalker45]

I don't know though. Dealers sell the pace cars from big races and the logos are a specific selling point. I would think they have that ability here as well. 

[Gothamite]

23 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

I don't know though. Dealers sell the pace cars from big races and the logos are a specific selling point. I would think they have that ability here as well. 

 

 

Then I would presume that's written into the artist's contracts for the pace cars.  Not really the same thing.