Mitsubishi in copyright dogfight with artist
US artist Ronald Burns has brought a copyright infringement claim against electronics company Mitsubishi Electric.
According to the filing, Burns has devoted his life to painting works of fine art and has received numerous awards and commendations for his work.
The suit, filed on Monday, October 17, at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division – Santa Ana, alleged that Mitsubishi has infringed Burns’ work called “Alex”, a painting of a dog.
Burns alleged that in March 2016, Mitsubishi first publicly released a TV advertisement series titled “Shades of Comfort”.
Part two of the series features a painting that is strikingly similar and substantially identical to “Alex”, claimed the suit.
The suit said: “In fact, throughout the spring and summer of 2016, plaintiff has received telephone calls from members of the public stating that they had seen one of his paintings in a Mitsubishi commercial.”
In 1998, Burns scheduled a visit to Canine Companions for Independence, which trains and provides assistance dogs, to photograph the dogs so that he could paint them at a later date. Burns photographed a dog known as Alex during this trip.
The “Alex” painting was created in 2005 and “represented the culmination of years of practice and effort on plaintiff’s part to become the preeminent visual artist that he is”, said the filing.
“Alex” was registered with the US Copyright Office in June 2006 under registration number VAu711-391.
The artist alleged that Mitsubishi had access to the painting and other works because they are available on Burns’ website, and Burns also uses a photo of it as his avatar picture on social media websites.
In the two pieces of work, “the identical subject of the painting is centrally placed in the canvas”.
“Both of the works depict the subject from an identical angle, with an identical blue background, and identical shading on specific aspects of the face and ears of the subject,” said the suit.
Burns is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory and/or statutory damages, disgorgement of profits, costs and a jury trial.
