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Tories pay artist for Burnham images after legal threat

Tories pay artist for Burnham images after legal threat

Stanley Chow had threatened to sue the Conservative Party for using his illustrations of the PM.

The Conservatives have agreed to pay an artist who threatened to sue the party after it used his illustration of Andy Burnham to mock the prime minister.

Stanley Chow posted on Facebook that the party had used the picture - which Burnham has used on social media - without permission.

He had sought legal advice and threatened to take action against the party. It is understood the Tories agreed to pay a £1,000 fee for use of the image - and contributed an unknown sum to Chow's legal fees.

The Conservatives had distributed water bottles with the image on them - accusing Burnham of being a "bottler".

Chow posted on Facebook: "The Conservative Party have settled after their recent indiscretion of using my image without my permission."

He added: "Maybe ask first… admittedly I would have said no, but it would have been a damn sight cheaper for the Tory Party if they just hired any illustrator to do their take on a cartoon of Burnham… hopefully this a lesson learned. Copyright matters."

A Conservative spokesman said: "The Conservative Party values the importance of intellectual property in the creative industries. We consider this matter closed."

Manchester United fan Chow, a Labour supporter, has previously created images of footballers, including Wayne Rooney, Edgar Davids and Ronaldinho.

In brief

The Conservatives have agreed to pay an artist who threatened to sue the party after it used his illustration of Andy Burnham to mock the prime minister. Stanley Chow posted on Facebook that the party had used the picture - which Burnham has used on social media - without permission. Chow posted on Facebook: "The Conservative Party have settled after their recent indiscretion of using my image without my permission.

This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to BBC News — Politics. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.

Continue reading at BBC News — Politics ↗

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