Glasgow Council to sue for Dali royalties

Glasgow City Council is to initiate a legal investigation into breaches of copyright restrictions in a bid to recoup lost royalties from one of their most famous works of art.

Salvador Dali sold his iconic painting, Christ of St John of the Cross, to the city of Glasgow in 1952; unusually for the sale of an artwork, the council also acquired full copyright. Dali’s esteemed painting is currently exhibited at Kelvingrove Museum and since its purchase has generated approximately £50,000 in royalties as well as appreciating in value from £8,200 to over £60 million.

However, Glasgow City Council are now concerned that widespread, unauthorised reproduction of the image could be losing potential revenue of up to tens of thousands of pounds. Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for Culture and Sport at Glasgow City Council, said: “while it may be free to visit our museum and view this outstanding work, it is simply wrong that there are companies out there who are breaching our copyright and profiting from the image. We want to recoup that money for the people of Glasgow.”

The council have appointed Scottish Law firm Burness to investigate the scale of the violations and pursue opportunities to reclaim fees. They will also aim to enforce the copyright more stringently in the future.

Colin Hume, the intellectual property lawyer handling the case said: “We have drawn up a target list of 50 companies who we know are very actively selling the work. We have issued cease and desist letters to quite a number of these.

“Our overall objective is to ensure that anyone who wishes to sell copies of this work in the future will have to pay for the privilege of doing so.”

Further to financial incentives, concerns have also been voiced about potential dilution of the image via the proliferation of internet sites using and selling the image in ways not approved by the council and inappropriate to the painting’s sensitive religious subject matter. A council spokesman told The Journal: “We feel it is only right and proper to protect one of the great images of our collection from misuse.”