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The family of celebrated cartoonist and painter Mario de Miranda has threatened to sue Goa’s chief secretary and the organisers of the G20 meetings in the state for allegedly using the artist’s work without permission during the G20 events.
Miranda’s sons Rishaad Miranda and Raul Miranda said in a statement that they were shocked by the alleged “infringement of copyright”.
The statement said that before Miranda’s death in 2011, his family had set up the Mario Gallery, “which looks after his legacy in various ways, namely publishing books, organising exhibitions, selling original paintings, authenticating pictures, giving permissions for usage, taking legal action against violators, making merchandise etc…” The statement added, “We urge the organisers of the G20 meet to approach the Mario Gallery and get the requisite permissions for usage. We have given the Mario Gallery the right to take all violators to a court of law.”
Goa has hosted multiple G20 meetings over the past three months, with the most recent one being the meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group, held between June 19 and 22. More meetings are scheduled in the state in the coming months.
Gerard da Cunha, curator of Mario Gallery, said the gallery would be issuing a legal notice to the Goa government’s chief secretary and the nodal officer for the G20 meetings in Goa.
Speaking about specific instances of alleged copyright infringement, Cunha said the organisers had used a Miranda painting on a tile inside a miniature window, which was given to VIPs as a gift.
“Another violation was the use of 16 life-size fiberglass statues displayed in Old Goa and Dona Paula. These statues are copied from figurines of art work developed by Miranda. These are the violations that we have come across. There may be more. The organisers should have taken prior permission,” said Cunha.
Sanjit Rodrigues, the nodal officer for the G20 meetings in Goa, said, “We have done our due diligence. As and when we are served with a notice, we will respond to it.”
Goa chief secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said he would check on the matter before commenting.
Miranda started his career in art as a newspaper cartoonist. He has also produced famous illustrations and other works of art. He died at his ancestral home in South Goa’s Loutolim village in 2011, at the age of 85. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2012.
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