Local artist launches copyright lawsuit against Canada Games organizers, 3 car dealerships

The local artist who designed the medals for the Canada Winter Games is taking the Games Host Society and three local car dealerships to small claims court.

Jennifer Pighin says she gave the host society the right to use her artwork “non-commercially” for two weeks in February for the duration of the Canada Games.

But then in March, she saw vehicles that were used to shuttle passengers around during the Canada Games being sold with her artwork still on them. She says three is total were sold before they started removing her artwork, but would like to see an audit take place to make sure that number is accurate.

Her artwork was also allegedly being used by the dealerships in web banners, pop-ups and advertisements. The wrapped vehicles with her artwork on them were also displayed on the side of the highway.

“The right to accreditation is one of those things that people are not really aware of either.” Pighin said “So the biggest thing for me, bringing this forward I’m hopefully raising awareness for other artists as well as for individuals who deal with artists; that they have certain rights and everyone should be aware of that.”

Cease and desist letters were delivered in March asking for damages for the unauthorized use of her work, a public apology and an acknowledgement of failing to attribute the work to her.

“I’ve had more than one instance of my moral rights and copyrights being breached in the past” Pighin says “Usually I’m able to deal with them out of court and just individually, but in this case it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere and kind of came to a standstill. So I had to step it up.”

Pighin is seeking $5,000 from the host society for breach of contract and $20,000 from each of the four defendants.

“It was a breach of contract. It’s hard to tell whether or not there was a contract that specifically sub-licensed that image or not.” Pighin said “There are some discrepancies there so I’m not sure what will happen. But they basically breached the contract by allowing another company to take that image and use it for their own purposes.”