Two of the Island's most popular painters and former colleagues look set to face each other in court over a copyright row.

Windjammer Gallery owner and oil painter Susan Curtis has filed a writ against watercolourist Margaret Dill in a bid to stop her from selling a calendar featuring paintings of Bermudian scenes.

Although Mrs. Dill has illustrated the 1999 calendar herself, Mrs. Curtis claims that the original idea for the calendar is her own -- and sales of her own 1999 Windjammer Gallery calendar are bound to be adversely affected by the arrival of a competitor.

Mrs. Curtis has been producing The Bermuda Colours Calendar for the last four years and each year has hired a local artist to paint 12 scenes.

Mrs. Dill was hired by the Windjammer Gallery to illustrate the calendar in 1996 and 1997. But her designs proved so successful with the public that she decided to go into production on her own for next year's calendar.

The Margaret Downing Dill 1999 Calendar is now on sale throughout the Island -- and Mrs. Curtis is seeking an injunction to try and take them off the store shelves.

"I really don't want to make a big noise but we are filing an injunction against her to stop the calendars being sold,'' Mrs. Curtis said.

"She has copied an idea that we had paid her for -- it's time that the art community in Bermuda stopped copying from each other.

"This is not normally in my nature and it has given me many sleepless nights but I have to defend my own interests and she has blatantly copied. She has even used part of the same format that we have paid her for.

"Nothing in the world is original and we got the idea from somewhere else, although it wasn't in Bermuda. We then changed it and made it our own. If someone is working in a commercial art studio they don't go off and sell an idea to someone else -- they'd end up in court. She can go and produce a calendar but this is a direct copy of the Bermuda Colours Calendar.'' Mrs. Dill, who is currently overseas, could not be contacted to comment on the case. But her lawyer, Mr. Trevor Moniz, explained that, although he had heard that a writ had been filed, it had still not been served.

"I haven't heard anything from either Mrs. Curtis or her attorney,'' Mr.

Moniz said.

"This is basically a monetary issue. Presumably Mrs. Curtis thinks she won't sell as many calendars if there's another calendar on the market but this isn't really a suitable case.

ANIMALS ALS