LEGAL FILE

American author Charles Bukowski has demanded that the former Bukowski Cafe in the Netherlands compensate him for the unauthorized commercial use of his name and photograph. The author of “Barfly” and “Tales of Ordinary Madness” brought a $2,200 lawsuit against the owners of a bar named for Bukowski in downtown Haarlem, 13 miles west of Amsterdam. Bukowski was initially “charmed” by the bar named in his honor, his attorney Paul van de Kroft testified in court. But bar owners Peter Massa and Wilhelmus Koops later made unauthorized commercial use of a photograph of Bukowski, selling copies and using it to decorate two glass-paneled doors in the bar, Kroft charged. Amsterdam photographer Joan Levine, who took the photograph, is seeking a $6,800 compensation for alleged copyright violation in the suit. The bar has been renamed “The Hangover,” the defense attorney said.