One of many incidental pleasures for Google users is the way Dennis Hwang produces special logos to celebrate various events, such as the Olympics or Einstein's birthday. The work of numerous artists has also been celebrated including, yesterday, Joan Miro. That, sadly, resulted in a fit of what looks like copyright insanity. As The Mercury News reports:
Today, the family of Joan Miro was upset to discover elements of several works by the Spanish surrealist incorporated into Google's logo. Google has since taken the logo off its site.
The Artists Rights Society, a group that represents the Miro family and more than 40,000 visual artists and their estates, had asked Google to remove the image early this morning.
"There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights," said Theodore Feder, president of Artists Rights Society.
Comment: This is a good illustration of how to turn a powerful free advertisement for Miro into a publicity disaster.
