Papal portraitist Milou reaches agreement with Getty
Perry Milou, the Washington Crossing painter whose papal portrait raised questions of copyright infringement, has reached an agreement with Getty Images, he said Tuesday.
Perry Milou, the Washington Crossing painter whose papal portrait raised questions of copyright infringement, has reached an agreement with Getty Images, he said Tuesday.
"I've now positioned myself to share this graphic and this entire portfolio of images with the world," Milou said of the series of paintings of Pope Francis, which bore close similarities to images by Getty photographers. By the time the potential infringement became known publicly, he had already developed his own line of merchandise based on the images, and licensed the works to the World Meeting of Families for official merchandise to be distributed by retail partner Aramark.
Milou's lawyer, Kirk Schroder of Schroder Davis Law Firm of Richmond, Va., said in a statement: "Perry Milou has reached an amicable agreement with Getty Images regarding the two Getty Images photographs in question. The matter is resolved in a manner that respects the rights of Getty Images, its photographer and my client."
Getty did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Milou said he would rethink his self-described "fine pop" art practice of painting from photographs.
"Going forward, if I am going to create something I that I know I want to use for commercial use, I will most likely look to license it ahead of time," he said.
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