WALES FACES £1M BILL FOR POET IMAGES
TAXPAYERS in Wales face a legal bill of at least £1million after the Welsh Government lost a legal battle in the US over using two photos of poet Dylan Thomas.
At issue were two photos of Swansea-born poet Thomas and his wife Caitlin Macnamara, which were taken in 1937. One image was called ‘Just Married’, and the other showed the pair playing croquet.
Photograph owner Haydn Price had bought the photos for £1,000 in 2011 from the widow of poet Vernon Watkins, who took them, and claimed the Welsh Government was using the images at the time in the US to promote Wales.
The owner of the images is now free to seek tens of thousands of pounds due to breach of copyright, so the overall bill is set to increase.
The Mirror reports that the government has already spent almost £1million of taxpayers’ money defending itself against lawsuits brought in several countries by the owner Haydn Price.
His lawyer Nate Kleinman said: “We were very pleased with the outcome, but not surprised, as we were confident in our position from the beginning.”
The Welsh Government had appealed a previous decision claiming they had the right to use the pictures on the grounds of sovereign immunity.
But New York’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals has now rejected their defence, finding in favour of Mr Price and ruling the government had used them for “commercial activity”.
Court documents state that following Mr Price’s purchase of the photos, which were taken by their friend Vernon Watkins some time after their wedding in Cornwall in 1937, “[company] Pablo Star then registered the copyrights with the United States Copyright Office, and was issued certificates of registration for both works in 2012.”
On taking ownership, former BBC journalist Mr Price asked Welsh ministers to stop, but he claimed they carried on.
The lawsuit said the photograph appeared on the Visit Wales tourism site in 2012 and was later used in advertising and marketing material aimed at the American market.
Wales moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not apply as its marketing strategy was an “inherently governmental” function.
Thomas, famous for works including poems “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “And death shall have no dominion”, as well as the play Under Milk Wood, died aged 39 while in New York in 1953.
A Welsh Government spokesperson told the Mirror: “We are disappointed with the outcome in the US Court of Appeals but we continue to defend the Welsh Government’s position.”