A Parisian sculptor has successfully sued sportswear giant Nike after one of its basketball singlets was draped over his statue which the artist claimed had “defiled” his work.
In 2011 a statue of British WW2 leader Winston Churchill on Paris’ Champs Elysees was draped in a Nike-logoed French men’s basketball singlet. The stunt was done by events company Ube Bene to celebrate the men’s team winning entry into the 2012 London Olympics.
However, the sculptor behind the statue, a Mr Jean Cardot, was livid his work had been used in the promotion and promptly sued.
The three metre-plus high statue is one of the few in Paris that does not feature a French person.
The furious artist instigated legal action and has been awarded $A140,000 in compensation after the court ruled in his favour that, in fact, his work had been used for commercial purposes.
Not that the sportswear giant is likely to kick up too much of a stink. Last year it announced global sales of $A30.6 billion while the company chairman, Phil Knight, is said to be worth $24 billion on his lonesome.
