Well-respected and collected New York artistic photographer Sze Tsung Leong and his Manhattan gallerist Yossi Milo were surprised to discover last month that a Vancouver gallery - which Leong had in 2008 declined for an exhibition of his successful Horizons series during the Winter Olympics - in fact had an installation very similar to Horizons on offer during the Olympics, but by a Vancouver photographer who had purchased the Horizons catalogue in early 2009. The Vancouver gallery and photographer deny any plagiarism or copyright infringement, and the situation has generated considerable discussion in photography and art world blogs and has hit the media.
Leong and Milo retained Fraser Milner Casgrain's Aaron Milrad and Clayton Caverly, who have also represented J.K. Rowling and her publishers in connection with the Harry Potter books in Canada, to represent their interests. In Mark Lamster’s article in The Los Angeles Times, Did David Burdeny copy Sze Tsung Leong’s photographs? (February 28, 2010), Clayton is quoted stating that "Without knowing all of the evidence at this preliminary stage, Leong believes that there is a basis for inferring that the gallery owner and the artist engaged in a civil conspiracy to infringe copyright and appropriate his artistic expression."
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