BBC News had an item today about the release of Willem Holleeder. The BBC report also mentions the film “the Heineken Kidnapping” and comments on the lawsuit conducted by Willem Holleeder against the film’s producer IDTV. On that matter I have been briefly interviewed as IDTV’s attorney. Please [Read more…] about On BBC News about Holleeder’s lawsuit against Heineken Kidnapping movie
artistic freedom
Kidnapper fails to obtain injunction prohibiting release of Dutch movie on kidnapping of Alfred Heineken
On Oct. 28, 2011, the Court of First Instance in Amsterdam delivered its full judgment in the case of Willem Holleeder v. IDTV (verdict here, in Dutch). The judgment contains important guidelines for makers of historical movies (or other works of art) that mix fact and fiction. The court also confirms the principles laid down in the recent ECHR Mosley ruling.
The facts
In 1983, Dutch beer tycoon Freddy Heineken and his chauffeur Doderer were kidnapped by a group of five men, among whom the claimant in this case, Willem Holleeder. After having been locked for three weeks in two damp cells, without heating and chained to the wall, Heineken and Doderer were freed by the police. The kidnappers escaped with EURO 13.6 million ransom money, but were eventually [Read more…] about Kidnapper fails to obtain injunction prohibiting release of Dutch movie on kidnapping of Alfred Heineken
English translation of court order in Louis Vuitton vs. Nadia Plesner case
Louis Vuitton sues Danish artist Plesner in the Netherlands over depiction of bag in art work
Danish artist Nadia Plesner is studying at the Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands. One of Plesner’s works of art, Darfurnica (see picture on the left), is modeled after Picasso’s Guernica and expresses the artist’s surprise at the attention that is paid to nondescript celebrities like Paris Hilton, while humanitarian disasters like those in Darfur remain rather unnoticed. In the middle of the painting an African child is depicted, holding a bag. Louis Vuitton is of the view that the pattern of this bag infringes its [Read more…] about Louis Vuitton sues Danish artist Plesner in the Netherlands over depiction of bag in art work