Spanish architect Beth Galí has filed a lawsuit in a Barcelona court against Qatar, reports El Pais.

She’s the designer of 16-metre high ‘Latina’ street lamps which are installed in Barcelona, Rotterdam and Hamburg.

The company which owns the patent for her lamps, Santa&Cole, won a public competition to install the street lamps in Doha in 2005.

However, Qatari authorities eventually decided they were no longer interested in installing her lamps. Instead, they contacted a Chinese company to design and produce similar lights, which adorn Al Waab to this day. 

Beth Galí is claiming that the lights infringe on her copyright, and she’s sueing for 100,000 euros in damages – and she wants the lights removed, which she claims are badly made and causing accidents on one of Doha’s busiest roads. 

“It cannot be that Asia spends its time copying what Europe has thought up and designed. What will be left for us if they take away our creativity, our talent and our thoughts?” Galí asks. “If I’d been copied by a master, I might still be happy. But this is atrocious.” 

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Sam Agnew