Ai Weiwei Wins Damages From Volkswagen Dealer

A Danish court on Wednesday ordered a Volkswagen dealer to pay Chinese artist Ai Weiwei more than US$258,000 in damages for using one of the artist's works in an ad without authorisation.

"SMC's (the dealer) use of the piece of art constituted a violation of the marketing law's paragraph... on good marketing practises," the tribunal ruled.

In 2017, SMC used a photo of a Volkswagen Polo parked in front of an Ai Weiwei art installation in Copenhagen to promote the launch of a new car on its website and in the dealer's customer magazine.

The work by the 61-year-old dissident artist, entitled "Soleil Levant", comprised 3,500 life jackets collected from refugees who had arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos between 2015 and 2016, crammed into the windows of the Charlottenborg art gallery.

The court held that commercial use of the work was a "clear contradiction of the considerations and thoughts behind the work," noting the misuse could be harmful to the artist's reputation.

The artist announced his intention to sue the dealer in an post on Instagram in March.

"The infringing material was circulated to over 200,000 people, giving the false impression that I had authorized Volkswagen to use my artwork in its ad for the new Polo," he stated.