After six years of attempts to reach an amicable agreement and after the Qatari government refused the arbitration of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the second Commercial Court of Barcelona have admitted what could be the biggest lawsuit for piracy brought against a sovereign state.
The lawsuit was filed last June by Beth Gali against the State of Qatar and the Public Works Authority "Ashghal" for breach of copyright, on producing and installing in one of the main avenues of Doha a thousand street lamps identical to the LATINA street lamp, of which she is the author and whose exclusive assignee is the Spanish company Santa & Cole.
The Court has served notice of the lawsuit on the State of Qatar, with the legal cautions and warnings, to reply within a period of twenty days.