Artist Stanley Chow is considering legal action after the Conservative party used his cartoon of Andy Burnham on water bottles handed out at their conference. The bottles, which carried the slogan “Bottler Burnham” above Chow’s illustration, were distributed to journalists at the party’s gathering in Birmingham.
Chow, a Manchester-based illustrator who works for the New Yorker magazine, originally created the cartoon of the prime minister for campaign material in the Makerfield byelection earlier in June. He told the Guardian that the Conservatives did not ask permission before using his image.
Copyright infringement claim
“I am taking legal advice, I may take legal action. It is copyright infringement, they are stealing my artwork to use for their own purposes,” Chow said. “An institution like the Tory party – there is no excuse for them not to do their diligence, and find out the rules of copyright. It’s amazing how it got signed off – that really disappoints me.”
Chow first realised the cartoon was being used while watching Sky News, when presenters held the water bottles up to the camera and laughed at the joke slogan. “I was more shocked really,” he said. “When it appeared up on Sky News they were having a laugh and a joke about it, I thought ‘hang on they have done this without telling me!’ I am peeved.”
Apology sought and Reform UK dispute
Chow said he had written to the Tories asking for an explanation and an apology but had not heard back. “It would be nice to get an apology out of them at some point,” he added. He was also critical of the “Bottler Burnham” slogan, calling it “very childish” and saying “they should grow up”.
This is not the first time Chow’s work has been used without his endorsement. Reform UK previously used his cartoon in an attack advert on social media aimed at the prime minister, deploying it for an anti-immigration message – a stance the artist does not support.
Legal expert weighs in
Colin Bell, a partner at the law firm Brabners, said: “This is a clear case of copyright infringement. It’s important because an artists’ work, created with care and intention, has been used and edited without permission and without acknowledgment or remuneration.
“That’s not acceptable. Stan is entitled to an injunction – or undertakings to cease and desist and take down the infringing works – compensation and a public apology. We’re advising Stan in his pursuit of this claim to secure redress and to make clear that artists’ work, rights and reputations cannot be treated in this way without consent, including as leverage or collateral in political campaigns.”
The Conservative party has been contacted for comment.
