Artlib, the person in charge, Lin Zhunan, are suspected of using the name of the Ministry of Culture to trick artists into obtaining authorization for their works. Among the victims are Liu Guosong, who is known as the “Father of modern ink painting”. The case is serious and as many as 500 artists have been affected. It’s been called the “great catastrophe of the century in the art world”. The Ministry of Culture has twice transferred relevant personnel of Artlib to the judiciary on charges of fraud.
The main reason for the “great catastrophe of the century in the art world” was due to a lawsuit between Artlib and Liu Guosong. The artist said four years ago, he discovered that his works were being reproduced and sold on the website. He filed a complaint, but the other party showed an authorization letter signed by him, which pointed out that 40% of the profit gained from sold works (past, present, and future) would be given to Artlib. The whole incident instigated a lot of doubts and the artist only found out after he began thinking about the council of cultural affairs, taiwan, which subsidized Artlib to carry out the “Taiwan's Centennial Artist Biography eBook
'' project. At the time, Artlib authorized the Ministry of Culture on their behalf. The book was handed over to the artist to sign, but contained documents unrelated to the case, and the artist unknowingly signed an unequal contract as a “lifetime creative copyright exclusive assignment” like a “deel of sale”.
The case took many years, went through three judges and more than ten trials. It was originally handled by Judge Cao. He collected detailed information on the “Top 100 Artist Activities” in the 100th year of the Republic of China. After the investigation, he believed Artlib was suspected of committing fraud for profit, and requested it be transferred to the District Attorney’s office for investigation. Afterwards, Artlib petitioned the judge to withdraw the case and Cao stopped handling the case due to judiciary rotations. After that, the case was handed over to a senior judge. The progress was very slow, and soon, the senior judge was promoted, so the case was handed over to Judge Wang and the lawsuit was confirmed. It was confirmed that Artlib did not have the property rights and exclusive authorization of the works created by Liu Guosong, an agency sales relationship of the works did not exist, and the litigation costs should be supported by the defendant.
Afterwards, Artlib filed an appeal to the Intellectual Property Court. In July 2019, the appeals of Artlib and Lin Zhunan were all rejected, confirming that the property rights of the works created by artist Liu Guosong are owned by him and there is no agency or exclusive authorization for the website. After the second trial of the case, Artlib appealed to the third trial, but it determined that the case was a matter of “the meaning was inconsistent and must be revoked”, rather than a matter of “the meaning is inconsistent and invalid”. Because of this, the second trial decision was revoked and sent back to the Intellectual Property Court for another trial. In March of this year, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court officially ruled that Artlib should compensate Liu Guosong at a total of NT$5.17 million.
After the Supreme Court called back for a retrial, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court separately questioned witness Huang. After an argument, on May 9th, it was decided that the right to the consent form would be invalid. In addition to determining that the meanings expressed by the two parties in the consent form were different, it was also determined that the disputed consent form was a stereotyped contract and invalid because it is unfair and at the same time, it was determined that the Artlib defrauded other artists.
The artist Liu Guosong combines the aesthetics of ancient Chinese ink painting with abstract shapes. He is not limited by the constraints of calligraphy and painting, and enriches the space of the canvas through the beauty of brushstrokes and lines; his works perfectly display the concept of the “coexistence between the virtual and real”. Born in 1932 and after graduating from the art department at National Taiwan Normal University, he founded the “Fifth Moon Group” which set off the modern art movement in Taiwan in the 1950s and advocated total westernization. Five years later, he felt that it was inappropriate to be following westernization and felt it was his mission to promote traditional culture instead. He began to promote the “modernization of Chinese painting” and proposed that “imitating the new cannot replace imitating the old, copying the west cannot replace copying the east”. Under the concept of “Chinese media”, Liu has developed a variety of possibilities for ink painting such as Paper Reinforcing, Paper Extension, and Water Extension and other techniques, making experimental breakthroughs.
Liu Guosong has won the “National Literature and Art Award”, “Chinese Art and Literature Lifetime Achievement Award", and “The 36th Executive Yuan Cultural Award”. He has held solo exhibitions in major art galleries around the world, and his works are collected in important institutions such as the National Palace Museum and the British Museum. Committed to promoting the field of ink painting, he is known as the father of modern ink painting and a pioneer of modern chinese painting.
Article reference source: Lawyer Xiao Xionglin’s blog
圖一：劉國松，旭日東昇，2000，236.5 x 352.5 cm， 彩釉、瓷版 © 2016–2022 The Liu Kuo-sung Archive
圖二左上：藝術家劉國松 ©國立台灣師範大學秘書室
圖二右上：月球漫步 1969 私人收藏 ©高雄市立美術館
圖二左下：Moon's Metamaorphosis No.101 2005 © 景薰樓拍賣
圖二中下：地球何許 1969 國立歷史博物館藏 ©高雄市立美術館
圖二右下：距離的組織之十九 1971 ©羅芙奧拍賣
