Mango sentenced for making NFTs featuring paintings by Barceló, Tàpies, and Miró

BarcelonaThe Barcelona Court of Appeals has admitted the appeal filed by the Visual Entity for the Management of Plastic Artists (Vegap) against Punto Fa, Mango's parent company, for infringement of intellectual property rights for the unauthorized use of works by Antoni Tàpies, Miquel Barceló, and Joan Miró to create NFTs. The court of Section 15 of the Court overturns the ruling of Barcelona Commercial Court No. 9, which had dismissed the appeal.

Now, the judges, in a ruling to which ARA has had access, have upheld Vegap's appeal in a decision that is not yet final and can be appealed. The ruling establishes that Mango must compensate the company with €500,000 for financial damages, another €250,000 for non-material damages, and €380 for investigation costs.

Furthermore, the ruling prohibits Punto Fa from making infringing use of the works of Tàpies, Barceló, and Miró in commercial transactions; from destroying the NFTs created with these works; and from withdrawing from commercial transactions all physical and digital elements that reproduce these works, including promotional and advertising material, also physical. Furthermore, Punto Fa must forward the ruling to all those who participated in the infringing conduct, send it to the media that reported on these NFTs, and also publish it on its website, LinkedIn, and social media.

The ruling acknowledges that the works of art belonged to Punto Na, a company owned by the Andic family, which owns Punto Fa and therefore Mango, but this did not give the right to use them to create NFTs that were used for the opening of the brand's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

At that opening, the company promoted five paintings, which belonged to its private collection, by transforming them into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), disseminating them on the internet and digital platforms such as OpenSea, and using them in promotional campaigns. "The conduct carried out by Punto Fa, SL constitutes an unauthorized use of the works of Antoni Tàpies, Miquel Barceló, and Joan Miró that infringes the property rights of reproduction, transformation, and public communication, as well as the moral rights to the dissemination of the work and its integrity," the court stated.

Mango sources explained to Europa Press that the company respects the ruling of the Court of Appeals, the result of the appeal filed against the ruling of Commercial Court No. 9, "which exempted Mango from all liability and demonstrated its goodwill throughout the process."

Appeal to the Supreme Court

Mango will appeal the new ruling in the Supreme Court, "arguing that the company has always acted in good faith throughout the process" and that the action did not seek profit or commercial exploitation of the works in question, particularly the Lazy NFTs. The same sources add that, until now, there was no prior case law resolving a case of this nature. Mango "repeatedly showed its willingness to collaborate with the authorities with the aim of reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement with Vegap, but was repeatedly rejected."

Expansion in the US

These NFTs originate from the opening of Mango's flagship store in the United States. Specifically, the company announced this Wednesday that it continues to move forward with its expansion plan in the US and has already reached 50 of its own stores in the country with the opening of the store located in Washington Square in Portland, Oregon. This opening is part of the more than 20 stores the company plans to open this year in the United States, bringing the total to around 65 by the end of 2025.

The new store exclusively offers the Woman line and is the brand's second store in the city after its opening in Pioneer Place. In the coming months, Mango plans to open a store in the state of Illinois on North Michigan Avenue, Chicago's main shopping street, and to increase its presence in California with a point of sale in Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza.