Lawsuit: ‘Cover or remove station dog Mannes from Assen’

The first of three lawsuits involving station dog Mannes begins today. Artist QS Serafijn, one of the creators of the Asser artwork, wants Mannes to be covered or even removed completely before the lawsuit about the repair costs starts.

The case is being fought in Rotterdam, because both artists Maurice Nio and QS Serafijn come from there. The municipality of Assen wants both parties to pay for the 90,000 euros in repair costs. The municipality has advanced this.

Copyright Infringement

QS Serafijn believes that the municipality of Assen has completely ruined the original Mannes with the restoration. Last summer, the artist demanded that the chocolate brown dog be covered or removed immediately. This is pending a lawsuit over copyright infringement. But Assen refuses this.

Serafijn was not involved in the renovation, his co-inventor NIO Architecten was. In his view, the repair work on the meter-high dog has been done so badly that it infringes his copyright. After the renovation, the dog has a chocolate brown hue and that stings Serafijn. Should the judge go along with Seraph’s story today, it could mean that Mannes has to be covered or removed from the city.

Split in two

The lawsuits surrounding Mannes are now being split in two. That means the case will take longer. It must first be made clear whether the station dog may remain visible in Assen at all. After that, the question can be answered who will pay for Mannes’ recovery.

Meanwhile, there is also a fuss between Serafijn and NIO and the maker of Mannes, Doornekamp Woodspecials. The artists have a ten-year maintenance obligation. But they pass the bill on to wood processing company Doornekamp Woodspecials, which Mannes put together in 2018. That company would have done a bad job.

The municipality of Assen is not interested in the mutual conflict between the artists and the maker. The municipality holds the spiritual fathers, the NIO and Serafijn, responsible for the poor condition in which the dog was already in a year’s time.

Already expired after a year

The dog was revealed on Animal Day in 2018. Since then, Mannes has been in the news time and again because of everything that goes wrong. Last year, the municipality could no longer watch Mannes deteriorate further and further. First lime streaks were visible and then the artwork was plagued by a peeling synthetic resin layer.

The municipality engaged a specialized company from Werkendam that spent months patching up the artificial dog. She paid the costs of the repair job to the responsible artists. “The makers of Mannes have a maintenance obligation of ten years, and we keep them to that,” said the municipality.

Poly Products, the company from Werkendam, repaired Mannes for 90,000 euros. All wooden panels were individually wrapped in a strong protective layer of fiberglass. And another four thick coats of high gloss were added, so that Mannes could last another fifty years. The station dog camped out in the workshop in Werkendam for seven months.

Three lawsuits

Today the first of the three lawsuits is heard. The other two cases concern: Assen, who reclaims the maintenance money from the artist duo Serafijn through the courts. And there is another complaint from Serafijn against Assen for infringement of copyright.

It is unlikely that a ruling will follow today. This will probably come within two weeks.

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