Collage Artist Deborah Roberts Sues Fellow Artist, Gallery Claiming ‘Willful Copyright Infringement’
Deborah Roberts, a well-known collage artist based in Austin, Texas, is suing artist Lynthia Edwards, who is based in Birmingham, Alabama, and her Brooklyn gallery, Richard Beavers Gallery, as well as the gallery’s owner Richard Beavers, for copyright infringement. Roberts has alleged that Edwards deliberately copied Roberts’s artistic style to create work that would confuse potential buyers.
In the complaint, Roberts alleges that Edwards and her gallery engaged in “willful copyright infringement” related to the “unauthorized preparation, reproduction, public display, advertising, and public distribution of collages that are copied from and substantially and confusingly similar to several series of original Deborah Roberts collages.”
Roberts filed the complaint in August in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, based on where Richard Beavers Gallery does business. Luke Nikas, the attorney for the defendants, filed a letter with Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall on September 22, notifying the court of its intention to file a motion to dismiss the suit, which Nikas described as “suffer[ing] from numerous legal deficiencies” in the letter.
In addition to seeking injunctive relief and damages in excess of $1 million, Roberts is also seeking that all works by Edwards (referred to in the suit at the “Infringing Collages”) be impounded and subsequently destroyed by the courts.
In a statement, Roberts’ attorney, Robert W. Clarida, said, “Deborah Roberts is undertaking a legal case regarding copyright infringement and related claims against Lynthia Edwards, Richard Beavers and Richard Beavers Gallery. This is now a matter for the US judicial system to determine.”
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