Art printing is also the subject of patents and infringement lawsuits.
Patent infringement is hard to prove in the art industry. While it is relatively easy to determine if there is infringement of a utility patent, art is a matter of personal opinion, and when judging whether a design patent is infringed it eventually comes down to the judges to determine if there was an infringement or not.
That said, there are examples of infringement cases in the art industry, especially when it comes to infringement of design patent. Some are very high profile, most are fairly low key. Many disputes regarding infringement, in the art and other industries, are settled out of court.
Bertoia and Knoll v. Herman Miller
Harry Bertoia was an artist who worked among others with the Eames brothers, known for their furniture design. He helped them with the metalwork on their chairs. In 1950, Bertoia had designed a line of metal furniture for the Knoll company; this was very successful. But one of the designs, using a double wire at the rim, was similar to a design the Eames brothers had created for Herman Miller and which they had patented. Bertoia was sued for patent infringement and lost.
Quantel v. Adobe
Most digital artists today use Adobe Photoshop. Adobe, the maker of the software, was sued in 1996 by British firm Quantel for using digital paint brush effects which infringed on a patent awarded to Quantel in 1980. In court, Quantel argued that the brush technique they patented on was a way of producing fine art, which the extensive prior art was not. Quantel lost the suit in 1997.
Two-Sided Masonite
Masonite hardboard is used by artists, either as a backing for canvas, or as a surface on which to paint directly. The board is only smooth on one side.
During the early 1930s, the American company U.S. Gypsum applied for a patent to produce a board which was smooth on two sides. They were sued by William H. Mason and the Masonite company, and lost.
Half-Tone Printing
Painters have long known make half-tone paintings and it is a process used in photography. There are patents covering it, as well. In Kemart Corp. v. Printing Art Research Laboratories, Printing Art Research Laboratories had received a patent which they claimed Kemart was infringing. There was also a countersuit. The final verdict was that some of the claims were infringed, some not.
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