Cattelan wins Paris lawsuit over authorship, faces Miami copyright challenge

Maurizio Cattelan is embroiled in two legal battles over authorship and copyright. In Paris, sculptor Daniel Druet sued Cattelan, gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin, and the Monnaie de Paris, claiming sole authorship of works including La Nona Ora and Him, which he physically executed. Druet sought €6 million in damages. The Paris court dismissed the claim, ruling that Cattelan provided detailed directives on concept, composition, and installation, making him the sole author. The decision reinforces the primacy of conceptual art, where the idea outweighs execution. Separately, in Miami, artist Joe Morford sued Cattelan for copyright infringement over Comedian (a banana taped to a wall), alleging it copies his 2000 work Banana & Orange from the series Sculptures: Still Life, which features a banana and orange taped to green panels. Morford registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. denied Cattelan's motion to dismiss, citing substantial similarity and noting that the absurd use of tape meets the minimal creativity threshold for copyright protection, despite Cattelan's arguments that his banana is real and the concept is unprotectable.