British light artist sues Florida-based botanic garden for copying his exhibitions at Eden Project

An internationally-acclaimed British artist is suing a major American botanical garden for copying exhibitions of his work previously featured at the Eden Project and other locations.

Bruce Munro, a Wiltshire-based artist specialising in large-scale light installations, regularly sees his artworks sold and exhibited at prestigious institutions across the globe.

But he says a major American botanical garden has now brazenly imitated displays of his work, including those featured at the Eden Project, for an exhibition of its own.

The artist has now launched a copyright infringement lawsuit, accusing the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, near Miami, Florida, of importing and displaying "knock-off" versions of his lights purchased from a Chinese company, G-Light, in its winter light exhibition, The NightGarden.

The lawsuit was filed in a Miami court earlier this month and names Fairchild, its chief operating officer Nanette Zapata, two Los Angeles companies that produced the display and G-Light as defendants in the suit.

Munro said he was taking legal action to stand up to "unsavoury business people" for the sake of artists who are unable to protect themselves.

"Like so many artists, my heart and soul goes into each piece I create, so it deeply troubles me that others would duplicate and diminish my work in this way," he told The Telegraph.

"I hope that by standing up against this sort of rampant exploitation, it will dissuade unsavory business people from continuing to very blatantly copy an artist’s work and also help protect those artists who may be unable to readily protect themselves."

Previously described as something of "a rock star" in the art world, Munro's previous light displays have drawn crowds of hundreds of thousands.

In the lawsuit, Munro's legal team compared the artist's popularity to that of the rock band The Rolling Stones, as they seek $150,000 (£115,000) in damages, in addition to any profits generated by the NightGarden display and the payment of his legal fees.

The lawyers argued that Fairchild’s NightGarden display shares “substantial” similarities to his exhibitions at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, among others.

Munro's legal team added that they sent the botanical garden a cease and desist notice, but the organisation ploughed ahead with the event, which was open to the public from November 15 to January 12.

The filing stated that there is no doubt Fairchild was familiar with Munro's work, since it had previously contacted the artist to express an interest in hosting one of his exhibitions.

Munro's legal team also accused G-Light of "commercial exploitation" in the filing, saying the company even advertises its products as "Bruce Munro style", despite the fact the replicas were unauthorised.

The court filing included images of G-Light's replicas of Munro's works, including the Water Towers previously on display at Salisbury Cathedral, available for purchase on the online retail platform Alibaba.

Fairchild, The NightGarden, G-Light and Kilburn Live all declined to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.