UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology
The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.
For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.
The pretend apology related to a corruption scandal known as the Fishrot files. In 2019, documents released by WikiLeaks and investigations by Icelandic media suggested Samherji had allegedly bribed officials in Namibia for profitable trawling rights.
Samherji filed a complaint accusing Odee of trademark infringement and malicious falsehood at London’s high court, arguing that English jurisdiction was appropriate because of the website’s co.uk suffix.
