A group of parents recently filed a lawsuit worth more than C$1.5 million ($1.16 million) against an art teacher and a school board after students found classroom artwork available for purchase on the teacher’s personal website.
The students attended Westwood Junior High School in Saint-Lazare, Quebec. The suit, filed March 22 in Quebec Superior Court, seeks $1.58 million, or $155,000, for each of the 10 students, plus punitive damages, alleging copyright infringement by former teacher Mario Perron and the Lester B. Pearson School Board.
Related Articles
The lawsuit alleges that in January Perron assigned his 96 students to draw a portrait inspired by the style of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by themselves or a classmate. The project was called “Creepy Portrait”. After the students submitted their work in February, they found the “Creepy Portraits” images being sold on Perron’s website. according to CBC Newssome items were priced as high as $174.
The parents representing the lawsuit also want a written apology from Perron, the removal of the students’ artwork from all websites, and information about the sales of the “Creepy Portrait” images.
A parent represented in the lawsuit said the experience reduced her daughter’s interest in art and made her reject the idea of becoming an artist.
“My daughter loves art, she’s always been into art, and after everything happened this year, she said, ‘I don’t think I’ll be doing art next year,'” Edith Liard said. CBC News. “I was surprised because she’s always been into art at home before school, and she chose Westwood because of its art program.”
Another parent represented in the lawsuit, Joel DeBellefeuille, said the amount demanded represented the size of the students’ work for sale on T-shirts, mugs and other merchandise online.
“We asked for $5,000 for each artwork that was infringed,” DeBellefeuille said CBC Newsindicating that 31 items per student were plagiarized.
Under the Canadian Copyright Act, damages for commercial infringement range from $500 to $20,000 per work.
