British artist sues ‘light-fingered’ Miami botanical garden over copycat installations

AN INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed British artist is suing a major American botanical garden for copying exhibitions of his work previously featured at the Eden Project and other locations.

Bruce Munro, a Wiltshire-based artist specialising in large-scale light installations, sees his artworks go on show across the globe.

But he says an American botanical garden has now brazenly imitated displays of his work for its own exhibition.

The artist has launched a copyright infringement lawsuit, accusing the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, near Miami, Florida, of importing and displaying “knock-off” versions of his lights purchased from a Chinese company, G-Light, in its winter light exhibition, The NightGarden.

The lawsuit was filed in a Miami court earlier this month and names Fairchild, Nannette Zapata, its chief operating officer, two Los Angeles companies that produced the display and G-Light as defendants in the suit.

Previously described as something of “a rock star” in the art world, Mr Munro said he was taking legal action to stand up to “unsavoury business people” for the sake of artists.

“Like so many artists, my heart and soul goes into each piece I create, so it deeply troubles me that others would duplicate and diminish my work in this way,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

The lawsuit seeks $150,000 (£115,000) in damages, any profits generated by the display and legal fees.

The lawyers argued that the display shares “substantial” similarities to his exhibitions at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, among others.

The filing stated that there was no doubt Fairchild was familiar with Mr Munro’s work, since it had previously contacted the artist to express an interest in hosting one of his exhibitions.

Fairchild, The NightGarden, G-Light and Kilburn Live declined to comment.