An undated hand out image received on June 4, 2003 shows a 'Stamp of Mass Destruction,' one of a set of three, which portray Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in a gas mask. The Royal Mail has threatened to sue the Artrepublic Gallery in Brighton, England over the image claiming that it is a breach of copyright on stamps and the Queen's profile image and has told the gallery to remove it by Friday. The 56cm x 61cm poster was created in response to the war in Iraq by James Cauty. [Reuters]

Britain's Royal Mail is threatening to sue an art gallery for displaying three prints of Queen Elizabeth wearing a gas mask -- works the artist says he created in response to the war in Iraq.

The Royal Mail said the gallery was breaking copyright laws by using a portrait of the queen the mail has used on its postage stamps for over 30 years.

"We have been in touch with a gallery and pointed out that this is our intellectual property and we have not given permission for it to be used," a spokesman said.

The three prints each show a profile of the queen's head with a gas mask strapped to it. The straps of the mask are tucked under the monarch's crown.

The edges of the prints are serrated to make them look like stamps, and they have "1st," "2nd" and "3rd" written on them in reference to the priority system used by the Royal Mail. The prints are in different colors, like stamps.

"To the first glance of the eye they do look like stamps, but on closer inspection they're actually nothing like them," said a spokeswoman for the Artrepublic gallery in the southern resort of Brighton.

"The queen has different hair, different neckline, different jewelry ... he's basically redrawn the image."

The works, entitled "Stamps of Mass Destruction," are the work of James Cauty, former member of 1990s rave band KLF.

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