‘Error in good faith’: Copyright lawsuit against Quebec art teacher, school board discontinued

A lawsuit against a Quebec art teacher accused of listing his students’ art for sale online without their knowledge has been discontinued, with the parties agreeing the entire situation was an “error in good faith.”

A copyright infringement suit was filed in February 2024 against Westwood Junior High School teacher Mario Perron and the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB).

The lawsuit alleged students of the Saint-Lazare school discovered their work for sale on the teacher’s personal website – some selling for as much as $120 US – “without the consent of their creators, in bad faith, and in violation of all laws related to the intellectual property of an artist.”

Nine parents were seeking $175,000, for a total of $1.575 million.

But the school board shed more light on the matter in a press release sent Wednesday, which it says all parties agreed to issue as part of the discontinuance of the lawsuit.

While offering an apology to the students and parents, the LBPSB called the situation “an error committed in good faith as part of an educational activity, with no ill intent.”

Perron is said to have posted the drawings online “solely and strictly as part of an educational activity aimed at learning digital photo editing techniques, which in the end never took place given the events recounted in the lawsuit.”

Allegations the teacher was attempting to profit from the work were “inaccurate,” according to the press release.

“The teacher asserted that at no time did he intend to offer for sale any of his students’ drawings or products derived from them,” it reads. “He explained that at the time the images were uploaded to the Pixels / Fine Arts America website, he had not noticed that the presets for marketing these images were activated.

“Consequently, it was without his knowledge that reproductions or products derived from his students’ drawings were offered for sale on his Pixels / Fine Art America page.”

When Perron found out products derived from his students’ drawings were for sale, he took steps to remove them immediately, the LBPSB says.

The school board adds the website operator has confirmed there were “no sales of student drawings, reproductions of student drawings or products derived from these drawings, and that the teacher received no money in connection with these drawings.”