French Court Says ‘No Counterfeit’
I’m not well-versed in French law (actually, I’m not versed in it at all), but what strikes me as interesting about this case is that it pits, once again, artist against artist. I’m going to assume this story is correct (although clearly many times when non-lawyers write about art law cases they are quite frequently just plain wrong), and wonder what the standard for counterfeiting and unfair competition are under French law. Anyone know, please feel free to opine below.
Daniel Grant:
April 4th, 2014 at 8:17 am
Wouldn’t this be an issue of trade dress under U.S. law? With the Tarkay case in the visual arts, as well as the successful Bette Midler and Tom Waits lawsuits in the performing arts, the original artist would appear to have a strong case to make.
Sergio:
April 4th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
Dan,
Good point. I think the hurdles to overcome would be whether the original/first artist could prove that he had acquired secondary meaning in his “style” of work. In other words, that his work was recognizable as his. This is a pretty tall order. Then there’s the issue of whether there is likelihood of confusion as to the secondary work when compared with the first. My educated guess here is that courts would find that chiseling ice in a certain manner cannot be protected by trademark law (in the US). How many ways are there to chisel ice?