Arturo Di Modica, creator of New York City's famous Charging Bull sculpture, is suing at least 10 companies in Manhattan US District Court, including Wal-Mart Stores, North Fork Bancorp, Art.com, and S.G. Martin Securities, for copyright infringement, alleging that the defendants are selling unauthorized photographs and lithographs of the sculpture or using images of it in advertising without his permission. The copyright was registered in 1998.
The snorting, pavement-pawing, 11-foot-tall, 7,000-pound bronze bull took two years and over $350,000 of the artist's own funds to complete. The sculpture was introduced in 1989, and has since become one of the world's best-known symbols of American capitalism and one of the biggest tourist draws in the financial district. Di Modica has received a fee in the past from film and television companies when he has authorized them to use the bull in motion pictures and television shows.
The sculptor is seeking an unspecified award of damages and part of the profits that resulted from the sales, as well as a court order to block continued use of the sculpture and its image.
Vol. 53, June 2010