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25 January 2016Copyright

Dylan Thomas copyright case dismissed, but not dead

A copyright claim filed against the Welsh government centring on photographs of the late poet Dylan Thomas has been dismissed by a court in Ireland, but could yet be heard in the UK.

In 2014, Wales’ tourist board Visit Wales used the photos, which were taken in the 1930s, to help promote the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth (1914).

But the Dublin District Court, in a ruling handed down on Thursday, January 21, said that if the case were to proceed it should be heard in a UK-based court.

Pablo Star Media, the owner of the copyright to the photos and which filed the case, said the dispute should be heard in Ireland because Haydn Price, the company’s owner, now lives in Dublin and the photographs had been viewed in Ireland.

The Welsh government claimed sovereign immunity—a legal doctrine stating that a sovereign or state cannot commit legal wrongdoing and is immune from a civil suit.

The photographs, which showed Thomas and his wife enjoying leisure activities including playing croquet, were originally taken by the Thomases’ friend Vernon Watkins.

Watkins’s widow Gwen sold them to Price in 2011.

Pablo Star Media filed six infringement claims before the Dublin court, the lowest level court in Ireland.

In addition, the judge dismissed four claims involving US and New Zealand publications, saying the court did not have jurisdiction over them. A final case against a Welsh citizen is pending.

Speaking to WIPR, Price said he was considering his options for an appeal.

He added: “We believe that EU law is clear: if it involves a case of Irish infringement then Ireland is a valid place to sue.”

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Copyright
25 November 2021   The Welsh government has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit involving its use of images of the poet Dylan Thomas in a tourism campaign and other marketing materials.