Harry Bertoia was an artist who worked among others with the Eames brothers, known for their furniture design. He helped them with the metalwork on their chairs. In 1950, Bertoia had designed a line of metal furniture for the Knoll company; this was very successful. But one of the designs, using a double wire at the rim, was similar to a design the Eames brothers had created for Herman Miller and which they had patented. Bertoia was sued for patent infringement and lost.
Most digital artists today use Adobe Photoshop. Adobe, the maker of the software, was sued in 1996 by British firm Quantel for using digital paint brush effects which infringed on a patent awarded to Quantel in 1980. In court, Quantel argued that the brush technique they patented on was a way of producing fine art, which the extensive prior art was not. Quantel lost the suit in 1997.
Masonite hardboard is used by artists, either as a backing for canvas, or as a surface on which to paint directly. The board is only smooth on one side.
During the early 1930s, the American company U.S. Gypsum applied for a patent to produce a board which was smooth on two sides. They were sued by William H. Mason and the Masonite company, and lost.
Painters have long known how to make half-tone paintings and it is a process used in photography. There are patents covering it, as well. In Kemart Corp. v. Printing Art Research Laboratories, Printing Art Research Laboratories had received a patent which they claimed Kemart was infringing. There was also a countersuit. The final verdict was that some of the claims were infringed, some not.