A Danish court has ruled and banned the owners of the watch brand Kanske from cutting a painting by the Danish artist Tal R and using the canvas of his work as a dial for a line of luxury wristwatches.
In August of this year, the owners of the Kanske watch brand, Dann Torleifsson and Arne Leivsgaard, bought Tal R’s Paris Chic painting from the Victoria Muro gallery for £70,000.
In October, the watchmakers announced that they intended to cut up the painting and use the canvas to design the watches, which they planned to produce in quantities of 200 to 300 pieces. Manufacturers planned to sell such a watch at a price of 10,000 Danish kroner (about 1,500 US dollars).
The artist condemned the project and said that the watch manufacturers’ plans were “a disrespectful attempt to make money and attract attention by making a product out of my art.” In addition, the artist went to court with the intention of stopping the project, although he acknowledged that when the owners purchased the painting, they were given the right to dispose of it as they saw fit. However, he does not agree to his work being modified and re-presented in the public domain, especially not for commercial reasons.
In November, the artist’s lawyer applied to the court for protection against copyright infringement. In turn, the lawyer who represented the interests of the owners of the watch brand argued that this project would destroy the painting, not change it, which is allowed by Danish law.
In its decision, the court sided with the artist, agreeing with his arguments that the design is a modification of the work, not its destruction, which is a violation of copyright law. The court ruled in favor of Tal R, prohibited the designers from implementing their project and ordered them to pay court costs. The court also added that the watch manufacturers had abused Tal R’s artistic authority for commercial purposes, which threatened to damage his reputation.
Source: https://hyperallergic.com/