Maurizio Cattelan clears himself of plagiarism charges for his banana

Maurizio Cattelan did not copy Joe Morford when he made Comedian, his banana taped to the wall. In fact, he did not even know the American artist. He thus clears himself of accusations of plagiarism by the Padua artist, against whom the U.S.-based Morford has taken legal action, claiming that he was plagiarized when Cattelan presented his banana on the wall in Miami in 2019. Morford had in fact created an entirely similar work long before, posting it on YouTube in 2008, on Facebook in 2015, and on his personal website in 2016.

Morford’s accusation dates back to July, and the response from Cattelan’s lawyers thus came two months after the legal battle began. Morford, in fact, sued Cattelan, and his petition was granted by a judge in the Southern District of Florida, where Morford resides, who initiated the plagiarism lawsuit. Cattelan has since filed an appeal, which was rejected, however, by Judge Robert N. Scola, who ruled that Cattelan’s Comedian bears a "substantial resemblance to the [...] elements of Banana & Orange" (Morford, in fact, in addition to the banana, has also glued an orange to the wall).

Cattelan’s attorneys, from the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLC, presented nineteen arguments in support of their client: in fact, the documents state that Cattelan "independently created his work, Comedian, without any knowledge of or reference to the work of plaintiff Banana & Orange.“ In addition, the lawyers made it known that the copyright infringement charge should drop because Morford ”cannot establish that [Cattelan] had access to the Banana & Orange work before he created his, Comedian." Morford also pointed out that he had registered the copyright for his work, but Cattelan’s lawyers dispute this because the registration was filed in 2020, after Comedian was created. Still, Cattelan’s lawyers add that the use of “a useful tool, duct tape, and natural objects, namely oranges and bananas” do not satisfy the “degree of originality” required by the relevant U.S. law, the U.S. Copyright Act.

Finally, Cattelan’s attorneys also objected that the presence of "additional elements in Banana & Orange, namely an orange, the green background, and the use of tape borders, weigh against substantial similarity." For now, however, the judge on the latter arguments has already ruled that although the use of duct tape to attach a banana to a wall might not meet the criterion of the highest degree of creativity, the absurd and farcical nature of the work might on the contrary meet it in order to qualify as an original work. Finally, the attorneys stated that should it be determined that there was indeed copyright infringement, it was in an entirely unintentional manner, and Cattelan acted in good faith.

Maurizio Cattelan clears himself of plagiarism charges for his banana

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