On 13 February 2007 Louis Vuitton sent a Cease and Desist order to Danish art student Nadia Plesner for using an image of a bag that allegedly infringed Louis Vuitton’s intellectual property rights. Plesner had created a satirical illustration, “Simple Living”, depicting a malnourished child holding a designer dog and a designer bag, and used it on T-shirts and posters to raise funds for the charity “Divest for Darfur”.
On 25 March the court ruled in favour of LV that the image was a clear infringement of copyright.Despite the ruling, Plesner continued to use the image, arguing artistic freedom, and posted copies of the Cease and Desist order on her website. On 15 April 2008, Louis Vuitton notified Plesner of the lawsuit being brought against her. Louis Vuitton demanded $7,500 (5,000 Euro) for each day Plesner continues to sell the “Simple Living” products, $7,500 for each day the original Cease and Desist letter is published on her website and $7,500 a day for using the name “Louis Vuitton” on her website, plus legal and enforcement costs.
An LVMH spokeswoman interviewed by New York Magazine said that Louis Vuitton were forced to take legal action when Plesner did not respond to their original request to remove the contested image, nor to the subsequent Cease and Desist order. In October 2008, Louis Vuitton declared that the company had dropped its lawsuit but have since reopened it along with a new €205,000 claim due to a painting by the same artist. In May of 2011, the court in The Hague found in favour of Plesner’s right to freedom of expression.