Gary Indiana in Love With Trademark and VARA

According to the NY Post, artist Robert Indiana is embroiled in a court fight with a former business partner, John Gilbert, over translated knockoffs of his multicolored 1960s masterpiece “Love.”

Gilbert claims Indiana signed an August 2007 agreement to license his iconic square logo for sculptures and tapestries bearing the word “prem” — Sanskrit for “love” — in both Sanskrit and English. Gilbert’s Manhattan federal-court suit seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, along with an order barring Indiana from interfering with any future sales. Indiana counter-sued, seeking all profits from the sales of “English Prem,” as well as unspecified damages for alleged violations of trademark law and the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”). Indiana also wants the Court to stop Gilbert from making “false statements” on Gilbert’s website.

Both Gilbert and Indiana are to meet in the lovely state of Maine this month to try and settle this out. Good luck! New York Post story here.