Postal Error and the Statue of Liberty

The US Postal Service mistook a Las Vegas replica for the real Statue of Liberty and printed a stamp design dedicated to the national monument in 2010. Now the federal court has ordered the US Postal Service to pay 3.5 million dollars to the replica sculptor for violating the copyright.

The sculptor Robert Davidson works at a casino in Las Vegas and is now entitled to get the money, he is fighting for it since 2013. The lady liberty forever stamp first appeared in the year 2010 and Davidson has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the post office in 2013 after he came to know that his creation is used by US Postal Service without notifying him. In the lawsuit, he claimed that the picture used in the stamp is his original work and after 5 years the Federal Court agreed to his version and pronounced the judgment in his future. After verifying the all needed angles of investigation, which successfully established that the stamp design is different from the original Statue of Liberty.

US Federal Court Judge Eric Bruggink ruled in favour of Davidson, awarding him 3.5 million dollar as damages. Bruggink in his judgment said, “The portion used was entirely of what we consider to have been the original work contributed by Mr. Davidson. The government's only real defense is that its use did not particularly harm plaintiff's business as an industrial sculptor. That may be true, but we also note that it certainly did not benefit him. The Postal Service offered neither public attribution nor apology”.

Artist Robert Davidson during the court argument has stuck to his version that his work is different from the original Statue of Liberty and is sexier and fresh-faced. It is made of plaster mud with acrylic coating and foam. The replica designed by him is half the size of the real Statue of Liberty. He also confessed during the argument that his mother in law’s face inspired his work of art and said that he made his version appear a little modern and more feminine than the original with masculine features.

The court observed that the US Postal Service did not apologize to Davidson and is actively selling the stamp after the error was detected. During an interview, the US Postal Service spokesman in the year 2011 said “We really like the image and are thrilled that people have noticed in a sense. It's something that people really like. If you ask people in Vegas, they're saying, 'Hey, That's great. That's wonderful.' It's certainly injected some excitement into our stamp program”.

It is an embarrassment for the US Postal Service, which picked the photo from the Getty images, the photo agency without confirming it with anyone. After the judgment, US Postal Service in a written statement said, “We are reviewing the decision and will comment if and when appropriate.”

It is not the first time the US Postal Service has been found guilty of copyright infringement. In the year 2013, a sculptor sued the US Postal Service and won a settlement of nearly 685,000 dollars. In the case, US Postal Service used an image of the sculpture with soldiers Frank Gaylord of Barre, which was sculpted in the memory of Korean war veterans in Washington DC.