Who is ripping off who? The bottom painting is by Heinrich Hofmann from the 19th century.
Posted on 05/26/2021 7:38:38 PM PDT by marshmallow
ROME (AP) — One night in early 2019, Rome street artist Alessia Babrow glued a stylized image of Christ she had made onto a bridge near the Vatican. A year later, she was shocked to learn that the Vatican had apparently used a reproduction of the image, which featured Babrow’s hallmark heart emblazoned across Christ’s chest, as its 2020 Easter postage stamp.
Babrow sued the Vatican city-state’s telecommunications office in a Rome court last month, alleging it was wrongfully profiting off her creativity and violating the intent of her artwork. The lawsuit, which is seeking nearly 130,000 euros ($160,000) in damages, said the Vatican never responded officially to Babrow’s attempts to negotiate a settlement after she discovered it had used her image without consent and sold it.
“I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought it was a joke,” Babrow told The Associated Press in an interview, standing steps from St. Peter’s Square. “The real shock was that you don’t expect certain things from certain organizations.”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I know an artist who built the Statue of Liberty for New York Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
He took numerous photos of the actual Statue in New York city by helicopter.
He adjusted the dimensions, profile, etc.-then built it.
The US postal service copied his work and stamped it.
He won the copyright lawsuit.
An enormous, virtually faceless corporation like the US Postal Service won’t be afraid to steal from the little people. They think they are too big to fail, because they are a part of the government, plus ‘everybody’ needs their services.
She didn’t have permission of the city to put her art on the bridge. So essentially it’s exotic graffiti and she has no rights to stop anyone for taking a cool photo of it and using it.
I’m with the vatican on this one.
If she draws in chalk on the sidewalk, anyone taking a photo has to pay royalties? Nope.
Who did she steal the image of Christ from?.
I’m not a tattoo fan but I like her Marian tattoo.
Did she place her name on the “artwork”? Did she get permission to place the item on the bridge? Can she prove she made the alleged “artwork”?
If it’s a design that she’s posted elsewhere on the web or sold before the bridge? You bet that’s her work. Just look at Banksy.
As an artist myself, I’d be fvcking furious if someone plagiarized my work and made millions off of it.
Doesn’t matter. Looks like she made it, and stuck it to a public bridge. Not bright. It’s just exotic graffiti and anyone can take a pic and use it however they want.
Put it in a studio, or get permission if she wants to get paid later.
Free publicity comes at a price.
Too bad so sad. Law of the sea. You think she’s have a cause of action if the city removed it and threw it in the trash?
Nope.. same principle.
Who is ripping off who? The bottom painting is by Heinrich Hofmann from the 19th century.
Hoffman’s work is no longer under copyright.
Graffiti is protected as the artist’s work, at least in Europe, as they mentioned in the article.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.