A plastic arts teacher from Quebec was put on notice Tuesday by parents of students. They accuse Mario Perron of selling reproductions of their children’s drawings online, without their consent, on canvases or various objects such as coffee cups and cell phone cases.
They threatened to sue him and the Lester B. Pearson School Board for $350,000.
The teacher’s actions are unacceptable, illegal and criminal, it is written in the formal notice.
This, dated February 13, was sent by email and handed over the same day to the bailiffs for service, indicated to the Duty lawyer Martin B. De Bellefeuille.
His clients are two families, whose children Jasmine and Jax study at Westwood high school in St-Lazare, a city located on the West Island of Montreal.
On February 8, during a visual arts class, the students carried out an online search to see the “professional accomplishments” of their teacher Mario Perron, we can read in the formal notice.
None of the allegations therein have yet been proven before a judge.
They then made a “surprising” discovery: a profile under the name Mario Perron can be found on the site fineartmaerica.com. They saw that Mr. Perron had put several thousand items on sale there, including coffee cups, canvases, cushions and bags on which appear drawings made by students in their plastic arts class. — at prices varying between $30 USD and $120 USD. By doing an online search, the lawyer noted that the intellectual property of 96 students had been usurped.
In the visual arts class, Mr. Perron had given his students as an exercise a project that he calls “creepy portraits” to represent a classmate or themselves, in the artist’s style. French Basquiat. In his instructions, he warned his students not to copy Basquiat’s works, as this would be plagiarism, it is reported in the formal notice.
“Ironically, despite warnings given to students regarding plagiarism, Mr. Perron used the students’ works for commercial purposes, publishing them on an online store,” the lawyer writes.
The students did not consent to such use of their works, made “in violation of laws protecting intellectual property.” »
The teacher’s actions are aggravated by the fact that they emanate from work carried out by students in a school environment, under his authority, alleges the lawyer who adds that the school board is responsible for the allegedly illicit actions of its employee.
Me De Bellefeuille writes that he finds it surprising that despite the media attention given to this affair – various media reported it and it even had international resonance while the British daily The Guardian devoted an article to it — the school board did not sanction the teacher nor demand the removal of the drawings online.
After checking, they were still there on Tuesday afternoon.
On behalf of his clients, the lawyer is demanding disciplinary measures against the teacher, a written apology sent to all parents and students concerned, and the removal of the works from all sites where they are for sale.
Finally, the teacher and the school board were asked to pay $300,000 in moral damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. Me De Bellefeuille gives them five days to contact him to determine how they will fulfill all these requests, failing which a civil suit will be initiated.
Contacted on this subject, the Lester B. Pearson School Board said it took these allegations very seriously. An investigation is underway, she assured in an email, which however prevents her from commenting further on the matter. A representative confirmed having received the formal notice, which was duly transmitted to the insurers.
As for Mr. Perron, he did not respond to emails from Duty at the time of writing these lines.