[artinfo] Fw: Darfurnica

[Calin Dan]

another one from the series "the world became a small crowded place".

From: "Nadia Plesner" <contact at nadiaplesner.com>
Date: April 13, 2011 1:27:17 PM GMT+02:00


As some of you might have heard, I am facing a litigation started by 
Louis Vuitton. LV is aggressively going after my painting Darfurnica, 
in which I depict a little Darfur boy holding a LV bag and Paris 
Hilton's dog. They claim that depicting their bag in a work of art is 
a violation of their design rights.

Amazingly, they recently obtained an ex parte order from the court of 
The Hague against me, which forbids me from depicting the little boy 
with the bag, including in any work of art or on my website; there is 
a penalty of EUR 5000 per day for any violation (the clock is ticking 
since January 28, and the total amount is now 380.000 EUR today.

I refuse to remove the artwork from my website, instead I have 
countersued and we are preparing summary proceedings to have the 
court order lifted.

For more information I refer you to this blog (which includes an 
English translation of the court order):

 
http://www.mediareport.nl/persrecht/07032011/louis-vuitton-sues-danish-artist-plesner-in-the-netherlands-over-depiction-of-bag-in-art-work/en/

The first court hearing will take place Wednesday April 20 at 2pm in 
the court in the Hague, Prins Clauslaan 60.

I would like to invite all of you to come to the court hearing and 
support me and the freedom of speech.

My class and teachers are coming, but the more the better. Together 
we can show LV and other large companies that in a world of IP 
rights, there must be room left for artistic freedom.

There will be media people attending the hearing as well.
If you come, make sure you're there in time, as there is also a 
security check you have to go through by the entrance.

I hope to see you there, and if you know other people who might want 
to support my case, feel free to forward this information to them.


All the best,

Nadia Plesner, BK2 Rietveld Academie