LOVE by Robert Indiana

prusaprinters

An open license model of the LOVE pop art by Robert Indiana, based on the U.S. Postage Stamp.Copyright/Trademark StatusIndiana was born Robert Clark, and changed his name after arriving in New York in the 1950s determined to make his life as an artist. He became a leading figure in the Pop art movement in the 1960s, though he always disdained being referenced as a Pop artist. He called himself an “American painter of signs,” and was known for creating hard-edged images, often with words and numbers, that served as an autobiographical roadmap of his life.Indiana failed to copyright or trademark “LOVE” in the 1960s, creating decades of financial and other frustrations.– The Press Herald, Robert Indiana estate settles copyright lawsuit with late artist’s patronThis year, on April 23rd, McKenzie filed a counterclaim accusing the Morgan Art Foundation of “one of the most massive art frauds in history” by copyrighting Indiana’s LOVE design, which McKenzie claims has been in the public domain since 1964.In a letter sent to judge Analisa Torres and quoted by The Art Newspaper, McKenzie claimed the Morgan Art Foundation had made fraudulent copyright claims on more than 1,000 sculptures, whose total retail value is “believed to be well above $100M,” as well as roughly one million LOVE-related objects, which represent an additional $50 million in sales. McKenzie is also seeking to cancel the foundation’s two federal trademarks, which relate to the design and reproduction of the LOVE design, claiming that because Indiana abandoned all intellectual property rights long ago, LOVE is now in the public domain.The design, which Indiana first created in 1964, came to widespread fame the following year, when it was used as a Museum of Modern Art holiday card. McKenzie claimed that the Morgan Foundation’s fraudulent copyright registration of that design has created “unfair competition” with American Image Art’s HOPE series of works, which was created in conjunction with Indiana in 2008.– Artsy.net, Robert Indiana’s “LOVE” is at the center of a $150-million legal battle.Artist's LegacyIndiana’s will created the Star of Hope Foundation as its sole beneficiary with the purpose of transforming Indiana’s longtime home on a remote island off the coast of Maine into a museum dedicated to the artist.– ArtNews, Settlement Reached in Multimillion-Dollar Legal Battle Over Robert Indiana Estate