Copyright Law

Rauschenberg

Posted on May 16, 2008
The sad news of Robert Rauschenberg's death this week also means the end of one of the two lawsuits he recently filed over the sale of objects pulled from his trash. The Southwest Florida News-Press's Mary Wozniak reports:"Rauschenberg's death will nullify the federal lawsuit he filed against Naples artist Robert Fontaine under the Visual Artists Rights Act, said Lawrence H...

Barnes Suits Dismissed

Posted on May 15, 2008
In a post in March on the Friends of the Barnes's legal papers, I wrote that I was "not convinced they've solved their standing problem."Today Judge Ott dismissed the various petitions on just those grounds. The decision is here. The Philadelphia Inquirer story is here...

"If you still have those pieces of paper, shred them or frame them as souvenirs"

Posted on May 15, 2008
Lee Rosenbaum points out that yesterday was the last day to redeem the settlement coupons that were issued as part of the resolution of the Sotheby's-Christie's antitrust lawsuits several years back. She notes that, as of March 31, almost $42 million worth were still unredeemed...

Antiquities Death

Posted on May 15, 2008
Strange, sad twist in the California antiquities investigation: "An internationally known expert on Asian art who was implicated in a scheme to smuggle looted antiquities from Thailand to Los Angeles-area museums died Wednesday at a federal detention center in Seattle four days after being arrested there on a visit from Bangkok...

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Getty Sale

Posted on May 13, 2008
I missed it last week, but it seems Getty Images has been acquired by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for $2.4 billion. Story here. Earlier post here.

Rising Tide

Posted on May 13, 2008
The New York Sun cheers rising art prices:"We think growing valuations in the art world are a healthy thing for New York City, which is the artistic capital of America. The high prices enrich artists and gallery owners and shrewd collectors, few to none of whom are 'royalty,' in the sense of vast, generations-long inherited wealth of the sort seen in Europe...

"The proposed legislation is written so broadly that it will almost certainly unleash a torrent of mischief by unscrupulous infringers"

Posted on May 13, 2008
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society express their opposition to the proposed orphan works legislation now making its way through Congress.Related story here.

"There have been surprisingly few Supreme Court cases involving art . . . and even fewer that are illuminating"

Posted on May 12, 2008
Randall Bezanson on Art and the Constitution, forthcoming in the Iowa Law Review.He crafts an argument for First Amendment protection of art . . . but it's not clear to me who he's arguing against. He mentions a 1948 book by Alexander Meiklejohn, and says "the text of the First Amendment says speech, not art...

"Fingerprint analysis is kind of a dark art"

Posted on May 09, 2008
The Montreal Gazette has a story on Peter Paul Biro, the "forensic analyst and art restorer" who's been accused by the Fine Art Registry of using forged fingerprints to bolster the case for authenticating an alleged Pollock painting. (See earlier post here...

Orphan Works Update

Posted on May 08, 2008
A House panel unanimously approved the orphan works bill yesterday. Daryl Lang of Photo District News looks at the split among photo associations that the legislation has "exposed" (pun intended, I assume).Lang also addresses some of the misinformation about the bill that's been floating around:"One point of disagreement concerns whether the bill would require artists to register their work with commercial databases to get copyright protection ...

"Our role in this community is to foster tolerance for creativity, and this law is completely in opposition to that mission"

Posted on May 08, 2008
The Indianapolis Museum of Art and the ACLU have filed a constitutional challenge to a recently passed statute that would require businesses selling pornography to register with the state. Story here in the Indianapolis Star: "The suit's target is House Enrolled Act 1042 ...

"I think this lawsuit has given my campaign more attention than I ever would have gotten without it"

Posted on May 07, 2008
It seems Louis Vuitton is suing a young artist over a t-shirt she created to help raise awareness of the situation in Darfur. Techdirt's Mike Masnick describes the project thusly: "An artist named Nadia Plesner recently put together a project to try to raise money for the victims of genocide in Darfur...

Agis Trial Date Set

Posted on May 07, 2008
A trial date of January 26 has been set in the manslaughter trial of Maurice Agis, "whose inflatable sculpture flipped into the air and killed two women" in the U.K. in 2006.

Caught stealing?

Posted on May 05, 2008
This morning's New York Times mentions the Rockwell-ESPN lawsuit which I noted yesterday:"[Curtis Publishing Company] has filed suit against ESPN, seeking to bar it from rebroadcasting its television series 'The Bronx Is Burning,' about the 1977 New York Yankees, until it withdraws its use of the [Rockwell] painting, 'Bottom of the Sixth...

"You can?t just go out and take out works of public art just because you feel that you have the authority to do it. You?ve got to obey the laws."

Posted on May 04, 2008
More on the Kent Twitchell settlement from Richard Guzman in the Los Angeles Downtown News. He reports that, in addition to the $1.1 million payout, "Twitchell has until June 2009 to remove the artwork. After that, the building owner will be under no obligation to allow Twitchell access to the site...

Just Keep Scrolling

Posted on May 04, 2008
Lots of good stuff over at Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento's place, including: the story of a former U.K. public school art teacher who is charged with "making fake ceramic vases and bowls in his garden studio and passing them off as the work of renowned artists"; news of a lawsuit against ESPN for use of a Norman Rockwell painting in their "Bronx is Burning" miniseries without permission; and a pointer to an NPR piece on online art fraud.

"Often looking scruffy in hiking boots and rolled-up khaki pants, Mr. Rau trusted only his instinct and his eye"

Posted on May 04, 2008
I thought this was interesting, from Carol Vogel's piece in Friday's New York Times regarding Gustav Rau, whose estate is selling 10 works at Sotheby's in London in July:"After his father died in the late 1960s, he sold the family business and went to medical school...

Cowen on Cuno

Posted on May 04, 2008
Tyler Cowen on Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno's "excellent" Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage: "The book criticizes nationalistic identity politics, calls for measures to broaden international access to antiquities, and argues that museums should again be allowed to acquire undocumented antiquities...

475 Kent Update

Posted on May 04, 2008
NY1 says the vacate order on 475 Kent Avenue has been lifted and tenants have started moving back in.

Moore

Posted on May 01, 2008
Summary judgment motions have been denied and an August trial date set in the University of Alabama's trademark lawsuit against sports artist Daniel Moore, previously discussed here.

Authentication Committee Suits

Posted on May 01, 2008
In today's New York Sun, Kate Taylor writes about the Basquiat and Boetti authentication lawsuits. She admits the latter story, in particular, is "tortuous," but gamely attempts a summary:"[T]he basic gist is this: In 2002, eight years after the artist?s death, [New York gallery] Sperone Westwater presented an exhibition of 15 Boetti works...

Damage During Delivery

Posted on May 01, 2008
Another lawsuit reported by Josh Baer:"Axa Art Insurance, as subrogee for Steve Cohen, have sued Aaronson Office Furnishings Inc for $1.7 million alleging damage during delivery to Jeff Koons 'Wall Relief With Bird.'"

Twitchell Settlement

Posted on April 30, 2008
Kent Twitchell has settled his lawsuit over the destruction of his "Ed Ruscha Monument" for $1.1 million. Details in the Los Angeles Times.

Bridgeman v. Corel

Posted on April 30, 2008
There was an interesting panel discussion at the New York City Bar Association last night on Bridgeman v. Corel, the now nearly ten-year old Southern District decision holding that photographs of public domain works are not protected by copyright because they lack the requisite "originality...

Agam Again

Posted on April 28, 2008
Yaacov Agam's sculpture is back on view in downtown Chicago -- or is it?The work -- mentioned earlier here and here -- "was originally dedicated in a ceremony with Mayor Harold Washington in 1983, becoming a part of Chicago's famous outdoor art gallery that also features works by Picasso and Marc Chagall...

Two Suits

Posted on April 28, 2008
Josh Baer reports on two new art-related lawsuits.One:"Gerard de Geer and Sarastro LTd have filed suit for $10 million against the Authentication Committee for the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat (and its individual members) and against Carl Flach and Stellan Holm...

"Gross" Thoughts

Posted on April 28, 2008
Reaction to last week's "Gross Clinic" denouement from Richard Lacayo ("there's one last piece of this puzzle that doesn't make for a happy ending. The Cello Player, the Eakins canvas sold by the Pennsylvania Academy [to help pay for The Gross Clinic], disappeared into a private sale...

Orphan Works Update

Posted on April 28, 2008
Lots of coverage of the revised orphan works legislation introduced last week in Congress. The Chronicle of Higher Education summarizes:"Lawmakers who lead committees on intellectual-property issues on Thursday introduced legislation that would exempt scholars and others from facing excessive copyright-infringement penalties for using orphan works...

Qualified

Posted on April 28, 2008
A special section ($) in today's New York Law Journal includes a piece by Lawrence Kaye and Howard Spiegler on the "qualified appraisal" requirements for charitable donations of artwork.It includes this closing thought: "[T]here are indications that donations of artworks could be subject to greater scrutiny by the IRS in coming years...

"Once people see the padlock, you're finished"

Posted on April 28, 2008
Kelly Devine Thomas walks around the Met with Larry Salander, for "the first interview Salander has given since his gallery was closed by court order last October."

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