Copyright Law

Copyright in painting style?

Posted on November 25, 2008
Frank Pasquale on Thomas Kinkade's apparent attempt to establish broad intellectual property rights "over a style and manner of painting and image-crafting": "It's a tricky legal question as to what critical mass of stylistic detail in a Kinkade painting is enough to warrant copyright protection when another is inspired/corrupted by it...

Long Beach Museum Settlement

Posted on November 24, 2008
The Long Beach Museum of Art and their former director have settled their lawsuit. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. For background, see here.

"It doesn't mean anything other than that they have been made aware that there may have been a diversion of assets"

Posted on November 24, 2008
The LA Times's Mike Boehm reports that the financially troubled LA MOCA has released the following statement:"MOCA has received a letter from the California Attorney General's office. The California Attorney General has broad jurisdiction and oversight over California non-profits, including MOCA...

Dealer Arrest

Posted on November 24, 2008
From the Daily News:"A New York art gallery owner was nabbed Friday for commissioning dozens of knockoffs of Matisse, Calder and others that he passed off as the real thing. Giuseppe Concepcion was arrested in Florida on charges of trafficking in phony artwork and scheming to dupe clients, Manhattan federal prosecutors say...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Pre-members

Posted on November 20, 2008
Regarding the recent decision discussed here, Josh Baer wonders how it's possible that the Basquiat Authentication committee could possibly have told Christie's to pull the work from auction in 1990 when the committee wasn't formed until 1994. I haven't seen the complaint, but, in the Judge's decision, the issue is finessed by describing the allegation to be that "two members of the Basquiat Committee had previously viewed the Painting" -- in other words, two people who would eventually become members of the Committee, though, the Committee not yet having been formed, they were not members at the time they viewed it.

"The current law must be changed as it is unfair to artists"

Posted on November 19, 2008
In The Art Newspaper, ADAA President Roland Augustine writes in support of The Artist Museum Partnership Act.

The End of the Rebate

Posted on November 19, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Sotheby's had announced that it was done with guarantees. Now Christie's too says it will "for the most part, give guarantees only in 'exceptional circumstances'" . . . and also announced it will "not be rebating any of the buyer's fees back to the seller...

"The current laws are not working"

Posted on November 17, 2008
The New York Post reports that the City Council "last week began considering limiting the number of art vendors to two per block" in certain areas.

Fraud on the (art) market?

Posted on November 17, 2008
There was a decision earlier this month in a NY state court case that could have far-reaching implications for the auction houses.In 1990 Tony Shafrazi Gallery bought a Basquiat painting at Christie's. In 1991, Shafrazi sold the work to collector Guido Orsi...

A Million Distortions is a Statistic

Posted on November 10, 2008
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento spots another case of "institutional censorship and curatorial alteration," this time in New York: "After complaints to the city Buildings Department, and concern from the Urkainian community in the East Village, Cooper Union removed a giant banner with a reproduction of a Picasso drawing of Joseph Stalin" that had been put up by Norwegian artist Lene Berg...

Machu Picchu Suit Approved (UPDATED)

Posted on November 10, 2008
Peru has reportedly approved a plan to bring a lawsuit against Yale for the return of the Machu Picchu artifacts. BBC News story here. Paul Needham remains the go-to guy at the Yale Daily News.The parties seemed to have resolved their differences last September, but, according to the Associated Press, that deal "fell through over a dispute over how many artifacts were to be returned...

"The door [is] essentially closed on that part of our business"

Posted on November 07, 2008
The Art Market Monitor reports that Sotheby's is done with guarantees.

Minor Skirmishing

Posted on November 06, 2008
In the Halsey Minor-Sotheby's litigation, the parties are skirmishing over whether Minor's separate class action lawsuit in California can proceed, but, in their most recent brief, filed earlier this week, Sotheby's gets in a few jabs on the substance (all citations omitted):"Minor argues in conclusory terms that 'because Sotheby?s employs a disclosure standard that contravenes the mandates of New York City?s auction house disclosure law, Minor has sought redress for this systematic violation on a classwide basis...

"Charities Can Expect Increased Giving in an Obama Administration"

Posted on November 06, 2008
"Tax experts say."

"I was in shock. I was in a black hole."

Posted on November 03, 2008
The Boston Globe's Cate McQuaid has the story of painter Nick Lawrence, who in 2004 "stopped by his studio at the Boston Center for the Arts and found that 20 years' worth of paintings and works on paper, totaling almost 1,200 works of art, had gone missing...

Checking in on the Curator Constables

Posted on November 03, 2008
A while back, I noted that the London police were recruiting art historian-types to form a volunteer art squad. Now, The Art Newspaper has a report "on how this innovative scheme is working."Derek Fincham comments: "This seems to be a good idea generally, and if it helps the Arts and Antiques Unit, that must be a good thing...

New Masters Program

Posted on October 31, 2008
ARCA (The Association for Research into Crimes against Art) has announced a new Masters Program in international art crimes studies. The first program will start next May in Italy; the application deadline is Dec. 1. See here for more information.

WTF

Posted on October 30, 2008
Lee Rosenbaum notes that the painting that was the subject of the documentary "Who the #$%& is Jackson Pollock?" is being offered for sale by a Toronto gallery for $50 million.If it sells, it will edge out the next most expensive piece ever sold at this gallery by a mere $49,991,000...

Indictments

Posted on October 29, 2008
Derek Fincham points to a report of two men being indicted for looting Native American sites in Nevada. He thinks it may be connected to the big California antiquities investigation which Roxanna Brown played a role in.

"Brown became?and remains?the only person charged in the fraud probe"

Posted on October 29, 2008
Seattle Weekly updates the story of Roxanna Brown, who died in federal custody last May, four days after being arrested in connection with an antiquities smuggling investigation.

Painting Found, Owner Lost

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Winchester (MA) Star has a story on one of the "more than 300" works left behind by our old friend Melvyn Kohn/William Kingsland.

"They provided collectors with invented, written biographies of nonexistent artists, complete with signatures"

Posted on October 24, 2008
Derek Fincham points to this story of a mother-and-son team of art dealers in New Orleans whose scam was to "buy inexpensive Chinese paintings from wholesale distributors and then market and sell them, at a large profit, as works created by [fictional] Louisiana artists...

Salander Update

Posted on October 24, 2008
The bankruptcy court has approved the retention of Gurr Johns to help Salander-O'Reilly sell off the more than 4,000 artworks it owns in order to pay creditors. (Approximately 400 creditors have filed claims totaling more than $300 million.) According to Bloomberg's Philip Boroff, "Gurr Johns will receive a retainer of $10,000 a month, plus $300 an hour for court appearances plus 2...

Flag Law

Posted on October 23, 2008
Tyler Green's been doing a whole series on the flag in contemporary art (start here). From an art law perspective, the key cases are Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 197 (1989), and United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990), which established that flag-burning is constitutionally protected speech...

"I just felt the whole time it was up it was not what I intended"

Posted on October 22, 2008
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento calls attention to a controversy at UCLA, where curators apparently removed one element of artist Maya Lujan's work from a group show without her consent.Assuming Lujan's contribution to the show was a single work of art, how is that not an "intentional distortion ...

"A move which further blurs the boundaries between auction houses and dealers"

Posted on October 22, 2008
The Art Newspaper reports that Phillips de Pury will be representing photographer Annie Leibovitz. Phillips already represents the estates of photographers Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, but this is the first time it will represent a living artist. According to the article, Phillips "would not disclose what commission it will take ...

Hiding in Plain Sight

Posted on October 20, 2008
Both Lee Rosenbaum and Richard Lacayo pick up on Christopher Knight's post last week on Gov. Rendell's comment that "I think it's been 14 or 15 years since Ray Perelman first came to me with this idea to move the Barnes." Lee is "suprised" by the statement: apparently, while "Perelman's feelings about the project have long been known," what "wasn't previously revealed so explicitly was his direct and early role in lobbying the Governor on behalf of the move...

"The spectre of forgery chills the receptiveness?the will to believe?without which the experience of art cannot occur"

Posted on October 20, 2008
Peter Schjeldahl reviews two new books on "the case of Han van Meegeren, the boldest modern forger of Old Masters (as far as we know)."More here.Related post here.

I guess it depends on how you define "sudden"

Posted on October 17, 2008
Christopher Knight finds it significant that, at Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremony, Gov. Rendell mentioned that "it's been 14 or 15 years since [art patron] Ray Perelman first came to me with this idea to move the Barnes." The implication seems to be that this revelation is inconsistent with the official story told by supporters of the move -- namely, that "the financial crisis facing the Barnes Foundation circa 2000 was the reason ...

2011

Posted on October 16, 2008
From the AP: "Construction of The Barnes Foundation's new downtown home is slated to be complete by the end of 2011, a timetable that comes after years of legal battles over the future of the foundation and its multibillion-dollar art collection. Demolition of a former juvenile jail on the site is slated to begin this winter, with construction to start in fall 2009, officials announced at an event Wednesday evening...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.