Photographer wins second trial over inverted photo that won prize at exhibition
A photographer is suing the art student who created the work for copyright infringement after it was discovered that the work that won an award at an exhibition organized by the Luxembourg government was an inverted and rearranged photograph. The first-instance ruling in December 2022
RTL Today - Legal blow for Luxembourg painter: Court rules in favour of US photographer in plagiarism lawsuit against Jeff Dieschburg
https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2193723.html
Luxembourg Copyright Case Against Jeff Dieschburg - Jingna Zhang Fashion, Fine Art & Beauty Photography
I won. I won my appeal.
— Jingna Zhang (@zemotion) May 10, 2024
The Luxembourg court has ruled that Jeff Dieschburg infringed upon my copyright when he used my work without consent.
Using a different medium was irrelevant. My work being 'available online' was irrelevant. Consent was necessary. 1/ pic.twitter.com/f9GrmUScCY
The lawsuit involved photographer Zhang Jingna suing art student Jeff Dieschburg for plagiarizing her work. The defendant defended himself by saying that his work was inspired by Zhang's photographs and was a typical piece of art.
At the first instance, the court ruled that Zhang's photographs were not subject to copyright protection because 'the poses of Zhang's photographs lacked originality,' and dismissed Zhang's lawsuit.
A painting that reversed an image taken by a photographer wins an award at an exhibition, and is sued for plagiarism but wins a lawsuit - GIGAZINE
Zhang appealed the ruling, calling it a 'dangerous verdict for the art and photography community in Luxembourg and beyond.'
In May 2024, at the second instance, the court found that Dieschburg's painting 'Turandot' infringed Zhang's copyright.
The defendant will now be banned from exhibiting the painting and any violations will be subject to a fine of 1,000 euros (approximately 168,000 yen) per day, up to a maximum of 100,000 euros (approximately 16.8 million yen).
'This verdict means a lot not only to me, but to artists and photographers around the world,' Zhang said in a blog and on social media updates about his victory.
In addition, Zhang revealed that in the two years since his appeal was rejected in 2022 and until the second trial ruling, he has been subjected to various forms of harassment based on his gender, race and occupation. Below is an example, with racist comments such as 'Chinese people are complaining about copyright infringement' and 'China is stealing from everyone. It's time to give back.'
Furthermore, someone scanned and published court documents, which led to his home address being identified, and he ended up losing his job after being harassed.
However, Zhang continued to fight without giving up because he had a strong desire to 'achieve justice at least once in his life.'
'It may be a foolish ideal, but I believe that if we can, we should stand up to bullies who know that people cannot fight back and who believe they can get away with anything,' Zhang said, adding that her lawsuit is 'for the younger me who couldn't fight back, and for anyone who, like me, felt unable to stand up to something that seemed scary, powerful and unfair.'
'It's still hard to process the fact that I finally have my life back. I hope that little by little I can get back to the person I was creating and sharing before,' she said.
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