Artist Cameron Moberg, shown painting a mural in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2015, says the city improperly used one of his murals in an ad campaign promoting public energy.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2015A San Francisco artist is suing the city for using his mural in advertisements as part of a campaign to garner support for a public power system.
In a lawsuit filed last week, Cameron Moberg sued for copyright infringement, charging that the city improperly used an image of his mural in its “Our City. Our Power.” campaign. The campaign ran on billboards and Muni shelter spots across the city ahead of an environmental review process prompted by issues with Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
An image of a city billboard included in the lawsuit shows a cropped image of the mural, which included the words “Visitacion Valley” painted on a background of monarch butterflies. The image is accompanied by text urging residents to “Get all of your electricity from the City.”
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The lawsuit says the campaign’s creators knowingly used the image of the mural without giving proper attribution to the artist or citing his name alongside his work.
Moberg is seeking up to $150,000 in damages for every advertisement where the image of the mural was used.
Artist Cameron Moberg is suing the city of San Francisco, saying it used his “Visitacion Valley” mural in an ad campaign without authorization.
Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle 2021The city is the sole defendant in the lawsuit, and Moberg is not suing Clear Channel, which operates the billboards and Muni shelters where the advertisements ran. The City Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, the city “failed to meaningfully respond” after Moberg, through his attorneys, sent a “cease and desist” letter in September 2023 demanding that the city stop using images of his art.
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The city formulated the campaign after the 2019 announcement of PG&E’s planned bankruptcy, which opened the possibility of San Francisco taking over some or all of the utility’s local operations and infrastructure. The campaign is ongoing and continues to urge residents to support a city effort to buy PG&E’s local electrical assets.
It was unclear whether the city continues to run the advertisement that contains the image of the contested mural.
Moberg did not respond to a request for comment. According to his website, Moberg has produced large-scale installations for Starbucks and murals for businesses and cities across the country.
