Google doodle tribute 'breaches dead Surrealist's rights'

A Google tribute to the Spanish artist Joan Miró backfired on the search engine when the painter's family objected to the accolade.

In typical Google style, the search engine decided to revamp its logo for one day last week to mark the birthday of the surrealist artist, responsible for masterpieces including Harlequin's Carnival.

The honour, however, did not go down well with the artist's family and the Artists Rights Society (ARS), which accused Google of breach of copyright and asked that the Miró-themed logo be taken down from the site.

According to reports, ARS objected to the logo on the grounds it allegedly incorporates graphic elements found in a number of Miró's works and also violates the artist's moral rights.

Google denied that it had breached copyright but removed the so-called doodle from the site.

A spokeswoman for the search engine said: "Joan Miró made an extraordinary contribution to the world with his art and we want to pay tribute to that. [The] logo was inspired by his work but does not copy any of it. A representative of Joan Miró's estate requested that we take down the logo honouring him. While we are disappointed, we respect their request."

According to Simon Briskman, partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, simply creating a pastiche of an artist's style is far less likely to open a company up to breach of copyright charges than using elements of existing paintings in that pastiche, as ARS assert happened with Google.

Briskman said: "If you are going to handle any content you need to do your homework. The point for most companies is to find out who [third party content] belongs to and seek clearance up front."

The Miró incident is not the first time the search behemoth has fallen foul of the Artists Rights Society.

In 2002, Google had a similar dispute with the organisation over a logo that aped the style of popular surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Once contacted by the society, Google agreed to remove the image.