Intellectual Property Statement

Imitation, it has been famously said, is the sincerest form of flattery. However, imitation also may be illegal. Therefore, while we at Thomas Arvid Fine Art, Inc. are flattered by those who are inspired by our work, we take intellectual property infringement seriously and do not allow others to imitate our copyrights and trademarks in any manner that violates the law.

While Thomas Arvid was not the first painter of wine, he certainly has become the most famous, and his paintings and name are highly valuable assets to many people, including our collectors. To protect these assets and secure the fine reputation and high quality of the Thomas Arvid brand, we aggressively pursue and enforce our intellectual property rights.

Our Copyrights

Every painting created by Thomas Arvid is protected by copyright law, and we diligently register our rights with the U.S. Copyright Office. By doing so, we may seek damages against copyright infringers in amounts up to $150,000.00 per infringement, as permitted by Section 504(c)(2) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Infringement includes not only exact reproductions of our paintings, but also the preparation of works that are derived from our paintings and the distribution to the public of copies of our paintings.

To enforce our rights and protect our copyrights, we regularly visit art galleries, art shows and online art auctions, among other places, to identify instances of copyright infringement, and we also regularly receive reports from individuals in the art industry about these issues. In the recent past, for example, with the assistance of our intellectual property legal counsel, we have taken aggressive actions including the following:

  • We filed a copyright infringement complaint in federal district court in Milwaukee against an art store and obtained a temporary restraining order forbidding the store from selling or displaying unauthorized reproductions of Arvid’s paintings. With the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service, we seized 146 paintings from the store.
  • At a large art show in Atlanta, we successfully obtained the on-site destruction of numerous illegal reproductions of Arvid paintings and obtained an agreement from the show’s organizer to assist us in our enforcement activities.
  • At an art gallery in New Orleans, we successfully obtained the transfer to us of a large, infringing wine painting that was displayed in the gallery’s window.
  • On eBay, we have repeatedly shut down numerous auctions selling illegal copies of Arvid paintings and obtained from eBay contact information for the sellers pursuant to eBay’s “Verified Rights Owner” program.
  • On the Internet, we have repeatedly taken action against websites that offer for sale any products that contain infringing images of Arvid paintings; in one incident, for example, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we shut down a website advertising 33 illegal paintings.

For more information about copyrights, you may want to visit the website for the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov.

Our Trademarks

In addition to enforcing our copyright rights, we also protect the Thomas Arvid name, which has become a highly valuable asset in its own right. The Arvid name and unique signature are trademarks exclusively owned by Thomas Arvid Fine Art, Inc. and cannot be used as trademarks by anyone else without our permission.

For more information about trademarks, you may want to visit the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at http://www.uspto.gov.

Licensing

By protecting and enforcing our copyrights and trademarks, we help prevent the unauthorized sale of paintings and other works that violate our rights and diminish the value of the high-quality Arvid name and paintings that the public and art collectors everywhere have come to expect of us. On occasion, we consider licensing of the Thomas Arvid name and some of Thomas Arvid’s paintings, if we believe such arrangements promote the high-quality of our brand. However, we do so only pursuant to an appropriate written agreement, and all other uses are prohibited. If you are interested in discussing a license, please contact our President, Vanessa Arvid, at (770) 427-4110.

Legal Questions

If you have any questions about the Thomas Arvid copyrights and trademarks, or to report any instances of infringement you may have observed, please contact our intellectual property counsel, Douglas M. Isenberg, at (404) 348-0368 , or via e-mail at disenberg@GigaLawFirm.com.