Carthage artist Andy Thomas sues Italian for copyright infringement

A Parma, Italy man bought one of Carthage artist Andy Thomas' paintings and began selling copies of it on Amazon, according to a lawsuit filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The painting in question was a portrait of Republican presidents painted shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 and was the latest in a series of political paintings Thomas had done, including a similar portrait of Trum's predecessor Barack Obama following Obama's inauguration.

Thomas filed a complaint with Amazon, which removed the pages being used by Giordano Ricco to sell the paintings, but Ricco filed a counter-complaint insisting that he has every right to sell the copies.

Thomas is suing for copyright infringement and DMCA misrepresentation

From the petition:

At some point prior to September 7, 2021, Defendant acquired a copy of the Work, modified the Work, reproduced the Work, and listed his unauthorized copies of the Work for sale on Amazon.com LLC.

On September 7, 2021, Plaintiff reported copyright infringement to Amazon.com LLC, listing several products for sale and display on Amazon.com LLC’s websites that infringed Plaintiff’s copyrights.

Compliant with 17 U.S.C. § 512(c), Plaintiff’s report to Amazon.com LLC included: an electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of Plaintiff, the owner of the exclusive rights to the Work; an identification of the Work; an identification of the products that infringed Plaintiff’s copyrights; contact information for Plaintiff; a statement of good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that Plaintiff’s agent is authorized to act on behalf of Plaintiff. 

Plaintiff reported copyright infringement to Amazon.com LLC through Amazon.com LLC’s Report Infringement Form. Among the products listed in Plaintiff’s report was Defendant’s unauthorized copy of the Work.

Plaintiff’s report to Amazon.com LLC identified Defendant’s unauthorized copy of the Work with a product designation and title, to wit: B097MPR8FS: Gray Granite Framed Canvas Wall Art Quotes for Office, Home Decor (8"X12") The Republican Club and Presidents 2F6N. 

Plaintiff’s report to Amazon.com LLC, requested, among other content, the removal of Defendant’s unauthorized copy of the Work from public display and the removal of Defendant’s webpage selling unauthorized copies of the Work. 

On information and belief, Amazon.com LLC removed Defendant’s unauthorized copy of the Work from public display and removed Defendant’s webpage selling unauthorized copies of the Work. 

On November 1, 2021, Plaintiff received an email from Amazon.com LLC, alerting Plaintiff to a counter notice that had been submitted to Amazon.com LLC from Defendant. In Amazon.com LLC’s email of November 1, 2021, Amazon.com, LLC alerted Plaintiff that Defendant’s content would be reposted if legal action was not taken within ten (10) business days of the date of said email. 

On November 2, 2021, Amazon.com LLC sent Plaintiff the DMCA counter notice, where Defendant declared under penalty of perjury that he has a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake, or misidentification of the content to be removed or disabled.