Did you know that the 7,000 pound bronze bull at the end of Broadway—one of the now iconic symbols of Wall Street—was illegally placed in front of the New York Stock Exchange in 1989 by its maker, sculptor Arturo Di Modica? Or that he still owns the copyright covering the statute, and that it is merely on loan to the NYC Parks Department?
Neither did Wal-Mart, apparently. A lawsuit alleges that the chain has been infringing on Di Modica’s copyright by selling reproductions of the sculpture.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., North Fork Bancorp and eight other companies were sued by the sculptor who created the “Charging Bull” statue near Wall Street for unfairly profiting from his copyrighted work.
Arturo Di Modica claimed the companies are selling knockoff copies of his sculpture or using images of the famous statue in ad campaigns without his permission, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court.
There’s a sort of reassuring logic to the idea that one of the great symbols of capitalism is actually private property.
Wal-Mart, North Fork Sued Over Use of `Charging Bull’ [Bloomberg]
We noted earlier how the evolving story on Hewlett-Packard weird, paranoid and possibly illegal investigation into leaks is itself now being driven by leaks. The New York Times has reported stories based on “people briefed on the internal investigation” and other insiders. The Washington Post is reporting on internal H-P emails. It seems every financial news organization now has a source inside the company.
Yesterday’s revelations that Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd directly approved a sting-operation against a reporter arose after the Washington Post got hold of some internal company emails.
