Attack of the British Infringers

Last December we mentioned Damien Hirst’s threat of a lawsuit against a teenage artist for alleged copyright infringement. Today The Independent reported that following Hirst’s bullying tactics, a few well-known British artists have decided to taunt Hirst and his “greedy” ways by creating more “derivative” works based on Hirst’s skull imagery.

Creators of the website redragtoabull.com, who include Jimmy Cauty, a former member of KLF, Jamie Reid, best known for designing the Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” single cover, and artist Billy Childish, have produced a series of skull images which flouts copyright regulations and deliberately provokes one of the most powerful – and richest – artists alive.

Writing to The Independent, Cauty said: “Unlike Cartrain and his gallery, we are not intimidated by lawyers and if an injunction is issued, we will simply ignore it on the grounds of freedom of speech.” He suggested the concept of copyright, which was changing in the music industry, had some way to go before it was “abolished and replaced with something more flexible”.

Tags: british, cartrain, Copyright, damien hirst, yba