Che could bankrupt press freedom group

By Jo Johnson, Financial Times
Published: Feb 26, 2004

Reporters Without Borders claimed yesterday that Cuba was behind a Paris court action that could bankrupt the press freedom organisation for using the world famous Korda portrait of Che Guevara without permission.

Diana Diaz-Lopez, head of the Havana ballet and daughter of the late photographer, is seeking €1.14m ($1.44m, £760,000) damages from the Paris-based group over posters that use the Korda image to criticise President Fidel Castro's civil liberties record.

"Ms Diaz-Lopez is obviously being used by Fidel Castro in a desperate attempt to bankrupt us," said Robert Ménard, chairman of Reporters Without Borders. "They may at last have found Reporters Without Borders' weak spot."

The legal battle started in June when RWB launched a poster campaign to dissuade tourists from visiting Cuba. It grafted the face of Korda's "Che" on to a picture of a French riot squad officer beating up a protester, with the caption, "Cuba: the world's biggest prison for journalists."

Ms Diaz-Lopez successfully sued the organisation in a French court on July 9 and was awarded €2,000 damages. RWB was warned it would have to pay €200 for every poster it distributed following the judgment.

In December Ms Diaz-Lopez's lawyers saw a copy of the poster on Mr Ménard's office wall as he gave an unrelated television interview. Next day French police searched RWB's premises and unearthed a number of the Che posters and cards.

Subtracting the number of posters found in the office from the total printed, the lawyers deduced that nearly 6,000 must have been illegally distributed and claimed €200 compensation for each one. A Paris court will rule on March 10.

Randy Yaloz, a lawyer for Ms Diaz-Lopez who did not return calls yesterday, told a court hearing that the photographer's heir was simply enforcing her intellectual property rights.

However, Mr Ménard said: "If it was just a question of the principle, they would have asked for €1 in symbolic damages. Millions of people have used this image without permission and without being pursued. If the court does not reject their claim, we are ruined."

The photo was taken by Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, known as Korda, on March 5 1960 in Havana and is believed to be the most widely reproduced image in the history of photography. The cropped version became an icon for a generation.

It never generated a penny in royalties for Korda. He sought to assert his property rights - anathema to the revolutionary ethos - only once, when Smirnoff Vodka used the image to show a heroic-looking Che against a background of vodka bottles and red peppers.

Korda said: "As a supporter of the ideals for which Che Guevara died, I am categorically against the exploitation of Che's image for the promotion of products such as alcohol or for any purpose that denigrates the reputation of Che."