Copyright Law

?Although I may have suggested to you that I had paid James his portion . . .?

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

Randy Kennedy had a report this weekend in the New York Times on the settlement of dealer Michael Hue-Williams's lawsuit against artist James Turrell. I represented Turrell in the lawsuit (along with my friends at Clarick Gueron Reisbaum).

I would just emphasize that the case was always really about the so-called Tall Glass series of work and, on that score, the resolution is a complete victory for Turrell. Recall this New York Sun article from early on, entitled Lawsuit Aims to Force Artist to Create Art. Well, not only was Turrell NOT forced to create any work, but as part of the settlement Hue-Williams "expressly relinquish[es] any rights" to the Tall Glass series. Hue-Williams was also required to take the rather extraordinary step of sending a letter to collectors making the admission I quoted in the header above. It's also important to note that under the settlement Turrell does not make any payment at all to Hue-Williams in connection with the Tall Glass works. So, as I say, we were pretty thrilled with the result.

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on August 16, 2010 (boomark / email).