US-based artist seeks court action in plagiarism case
Legal request comes after art competition organisers refused to decide if conduct was appropriate
The US-based Singaporean photographer who accused a Luxembourg painter of seeking to profit from her work is launching legal action to stop the artist from displaying, selling and reproducing the artwork which she claims he copied. A painting by Dieschburg, seemingly closely based on photographs by Jingna Zhang and offered for sale at €6,500, infringed on Zhang's legal copyright protection for her creative work, her lawyer, Vincent Wellens, has said. Dieschburg's work had been displayed at Strassen's cultural centre as part of the 11th Contemporary Art Biennale, which was funded by the Culture Ministry and ended in June. Organisers of the art competition said they don't want to decide whether the Luxembourg painter's conduct was appropriate, leaving it for Zhang's and Dieschburg's lawyers to figure out. “We will start legal action against Mr Dieschburg this week”, Wellens said. A summons notifying Dieschburg of the pending civil lawsuit was seen by the Luxembourg Times. The injunction sought by Wellens is part of an accelerated court procedure, though it could take several months, the lawyer said in a phone interview.
Dieschburg's lawyer declined to comment on the legal action. But Gaston Vogel said he was unperturbed by the “abusive actions” against his client. Dieschburg denied Zhang's allegations in an exchange of mails between the two artists, adding that art frequently references the work of other artists. Dieschburg then hired prominent Luxembourg lawyer Gaston Vogel to defend him against Zhang's accusations. Many other artists had previously copied and changed Zhang's photograph without the US artist objecting, which indicated she tolerated the practice, Vogel has said. But Zhang said that Dieschburg had gone beyond that, because he had not named her as the first creator of the work when exhibiting his painting.