In a homage to [a href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Mir%C3%B3"]Joan Miro[/a] on his birthday, Google changed its logo as to spell out the word "Google" in [a href="vny!://www.google.com/logos/miro.gif"]Miro's style[/a]. Google has a history of [a href="vny!://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html"]changing its logo[/a] in order to commemorate events and holidays of particular significance.
In this case, the homage was not well received by the Miro family or the Artists Rights Society which represents them, as [a href="vny!://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14389478.htm"]reported[/a] by the Mercury News. According to [a href="mailto:
[email protected]"]Theodore Feder[/a], president of the ARS, "There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights". The ARS demanded that Google removed the logo, and Google complied, though not without adding that it did not believe it was in violation of copyright.
The ARS has raised similar complaints regarding Google's tribute to [a href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD"]Salvador Dali[/a] in 2002. "It's a distortion of the original works and in that respect it violates the moral rights of the artist," Feder said." It seems to me that the art world has [a href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchamp"]a glorious history[/a] of incorporating prior art into modern creations. It's amusing to me that ARS doesn't understand that.
