A judge has provisionally upheld an artist's call for Paola parish church not to modify the former titular statue of Christ the King and not to use its niche for any purpose other than the statue it was designed for.

The parish recently received a new titular statue and the old one was taken out of its niche.

Sculptor Ganni Bonnici successfully argued that the old statue and its niche were designed together and using the niche for a different purpose would violate his intellectual property rights.

The court ruled that the new statue cannot be placed in the old niche unless there is the consent of the artist himself, or by court order.

Earlier this year the ecclesiastical authorities had agreed to replace Mr Bonnici's old titular statue commissioned by the parish in 1999, with a new one by Michael Camilleri Cauchi which belonged to the GM de Paule Band Club of Paola.

The deal was part of an agreement whereby the Church had given formal recognition to the Kristu Sultan Band Club which was formed about 15 years ago.

The issue ended up in court due to Mr Bonnici's objections for the new statue to be placed in the old niche which he said was tailor-made for his statue and was thus part and parcel of his work of art. Consequently any modifications to it would breach a provision of the Copyright Act dealing with mutilation, modification or distortion of any work of art.

Furthermore, he said that any attempt to transfer the old statue could result in his work being damaged.

On their part the ecclesiastical authorities said they had no intention to modify the niche or place the new statue in it, but they insisted that they had the right to use it for whatever purpose they wanted and to transfer the niche to another part of the church in case of renovation works.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti said that the arguments made by the Church authorities did not give the necessary guarantees that the statue would be safeguarded from any damage. The court was not convinced that the integrity of Mr Bonnici's statue was preserved when it was removed from its niche and base, and transferred to the oratory.

For the time being the status quo must remain pending a final decision on this "anomalous" situation by another court, the judge said.  

Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia appeared for the artist.