Danish court orders Volkswagen to pay Ai Weiwei $260,000 for unauthorized use of artwork in ad

A Danish court has ruled in favor of artist Ai Weiwei in a copyright case against Volkswagen, ordering the automaker to pay 1.75 million Danish kroner ($260,000) for reproducing his work "Soleil Levant" without permission in an advertisement for the new Polo. The artwork, created in 2017 for World Refugee Day, consists of 3,500 life jackets installed on the exterior wall of Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. The court found Volkswagen violated both moral and economic rights. Artist Gianluca Costantini illustrated some trial phases with Ai Weiwei's consent. A similar case occurred in the US in 2018 when Anish Kapoor publicly opposed the reproduction of his "Cloud Gate" in a National Rifle Association video. The article, written by lawyer Raffaella Pellegrino, discusses legal precedents in Italy, including rulings by courts in Palermo and Florence that sanctioned unauthorized reproductions of the Teatro Massimo and Michelangelo's David for commercial purposes. Pellegrino emphasizes that reproducing copyrighted works or cultural heritage in advertising requires explicit authorization, as case law consistently favors authors.