Copyright Law

Drunken Lawsuit Update

Posted on September 03, 2010
The New York Times:"For those following the strange case of the lost million-dollar painting, here is an update."The missing artwork? Still missing."The lawsuit filed against the man accused of losing the painting after having had one drink too many? Dropped, but apparently being resurrected...

"That would leave Fisk not only with no art-sale revenue but also with no Stieglitz art collection"

Posted on September 02, 2010
NPR on the Fisk-O'Keeffe saga.

Linkage

Posted on September 01, 2010
Banksy forgers sentenced.Yale art theft sentence.TRO granted in lawsuit challenging new rules limiting art sales in NYC parks.Fleeing the sinking "Ansel Adams" ship.Brancusi battle.Another Richard Love lawsuit. (Related post here.)Another museum in trouble...

"The legislation grew out of cases in which time became a factor in litigation involving art looted by the Nazis"

Posted on September 01, 2010
The NYT's Kate Taylor reports that "California lawmakers gave final approval Monday night to a bill that would extend the time period in which people can sue museums to try to recover what they believe are stolen works of art. A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he had not decided whether to sign the bill...

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Van Gogh Theft Update

Posted on August 31, 2010
The investigation into the van Gogh stolen from a museum in Egypt continues. Last week, an Egyptian billionaire offered a 1-million Egyptian pound reward for information leading to its return. Turbo Paul was not impressed -- 1-million Egyptian pounds is about $175,000...

"Why on earth would anyone want to change that?"

Posted on August 31, 2010
Copyright and fashion are back in the news again. Sen. Schumer has introduced a bill that would extend copyright laws to the fashion industry for the first time. Lawprofs Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman are against it:"American law does not prohibit copying fashion designs...

"It?s a very drastic turn of events"

Posted on August 31, 2010
Ann Liv Young is back at P.S. 1. (Background here.)

Here's a new one

Posted on August 31, 2010
The AP: "A man entrusted with helping to sell a $1.3 million painting said it disappeared while he was in a drunken haze, according to a lawsuit filed by a co-owner of the canvas."

"Lending for compensation is not unheard of"

Posted on August 30, 2010
What repulsive Stalinist said that?The AAM's Dewey Blanton, who tells the Brandeis Hoot that "museums usually lend their pieces for only the charge of shipping and insurance of the pieces, but that in tough economic times lending for compensation 'can be a win-win situation for the lender, who gets money, and the borrower, who gets access to new art'" (my emphasis)...

"The canvas now has far more commodious digs?almost its own mini-chapel"

Posted on August 30, 2010
More on the tragic deaccessioning of "The Gross Clinic," which "until a few years ago was off-the-beaten trail at the Jefferson Memorial Hospital."

"The sharing proposal, increasingly popular with galleries and museums across the globe, ..."

Posted on August 27, 2010
". . . is an innovative arrangement that is clearly in the best interest of Fisk, Tennessee, and the South."Fisk issues a statement. The problem is, the Court has ruled the interests of Fisk don't matter at all.

Proposed New CA Statute of Limitations for Stolen Art Claims

Posted on August 25, 2010
In my Journal of Art Crime column last year, I wrote about the Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum case, in which the Ninth Circuit struck down the California legislature's attempt to extend the statute of limitations on Holocaust-era art claims on the ground that it represented an impermissible infringement of the federal government?s power "to make and resolve war...

More Fisk Follies

Posted on August 24, 2010
So Judge Lyle issued her decision in the Fisk case on Friday. She resolved one of the two remaining issues in the case; the other she kicked down the road a bit.First, some background. Last summer, the Tennessee Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Lyle with instructions to perform a two-step analysis:First, to figure out whether "the change of circumstances subsequent to the gift [has] render[ed] literal compliance with the conditions [of the gift] impossible or impracticable...

"Then he lowers the boom: little things don't seem quite right, and Biro is revealed as a con man"

Posted on August 24, 2010
Still more praise for David Grann's New Yorker article on Peter Paul Biro.

Is the art market unregulated?

Posted on August 24, 2010
Writing at the NY Times Opinionator Blog, William Cohan says yes, it's "utterly unregulated." The Art Market Monitor begs to differ:"This handy art world cliche is silly. The art world is governed by all the rules and regulations of the commercial code...

The Stolen Van Gogh

Posted on August 24, 2010
The latest on the Van Gogh stolen from a Cairo museum over the weekend is . . . it's still missing. There were some reports that it had been recovered, but they seem to have been "based on faulty information." A "top official in Egypt?s culture ministry" and "several" museum guards have been arrested...

Further on Fisk

Posted on August 24, 2010
Following up on my post last night, a couple of additional points re Fisk:1. For those rooting against the Crystal Bridges deal (which would bring Fisk $30 million in exchange for a half-interest in the collection), here's what the Court found regarding Fisk's financial condition:"[T]wo degree programs [--] dramatic speech and dance, and philosophy and religion [--] have been eliminated...

I take a break from blogging for a couple of days ...

Posted on August 23, 2010
. . . and all hell breaks loose. A decision in the Fisk case. Big news in the Shepard Fairey lawsuit. A Van Gogh is stolen. More on all of these later in the day (I hope).

"Forget it, I'm done, they can have the image. I just want to get back to my life"

Posted on August 23, 2010
The big news in the Shepard Fairey lawsuit is that Mannie Garcia has dropped out of the case because it had "taken a toll on him personally and professionally." It's not a settlement: "the AP is pleased that Mr. Garcia voluntarily withdrew without any payment or consideration of any kind...

New Trial for Park West

Posted on August 18, 2010
The judge has thrown out the $500,000 jury verdict Fine Arts Registry got against Park West Galleries in April. The Detroit Free Press reports that the judge ruled that FAR "repeatedly violated his orders during a 5 1/2 -week trial ... by mentioning a supposed federal probe, critical newspaper articles and lawsuits by disgruntled customers...

Grade Inflation

Posted on August 17, 2010
It used to be that selling a work of art was like selling your wedding ring.Now we're told it's like selling your grandmother.(Unless, of course, the proceeds are used to buy more art, in which case it's like this.)

"It's impractical, your honor, and it's going to become impossible unless something is done to right this ship"

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Fisk trial has wrapped up. Judge Lyle says she will issue her decision on Friday. Will there be a little joy in Fiskville?

Linkage (playing catch-up edition)

Posted on August 17, 2010
Sotheby's selling vegetables.Original fakes.Art theft in Sydney.Henry Moore sketch stolen.Victorian statue stolen.Suit over NYC Parks Department drawings.Photography is not a crime.Another Salander verdict.Artist sues gallery owner.Chelsea Art Museum closes ...

"Why is a set of photos worth millions if they were shot by Ansel Adams, and next to nothing if the photographer depressing the plunger was a nobody?"

Posted on August 17, 2010
The WSJ's Eric Felten on the art world name game.

"Mr. Streets initially denied in an interview that he was the same David W. Streets who was convicted of passing bad checks, fraud and petty theft"

Posted on August 17, 2010
NYT: Tale of Ansel Adams Negatives Grows Hazy.

"Some in the New York State Legislature thought they knew more about running museums and other cultural institutions ..."

Posted on August 17, 2010
". . . than the managements and boards of those institutions."An excellent post by the Charity Governance Blog's Jack Siegel on the death of the Brodsky Bill. The whole thing is worth reading, but some highlights:"While we assume most museums would prefer not to sell parts of their collections, that option should not be taken off the table through legislative fiat...

"We are having an attorney look at the contract to figure out if we can legally do it"

Posted on August 17, 2010
"It may be a situation where they say you can?t but we can."The New York Times on a dispute between "provocative performance artist" Ann Liv Young and P.S. 1.Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento has some thoughts.

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

Posted on August 16, 2010
". . . at no time did I share with James any payments you made to me towards the purchase of a Tall Glass work."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...

"Whatever the facts of the case, all the documentarian's polemical tricks stand instructively exposed here . . ."

Posted on August 13, 2010
". . . making the film an absorbing, if highly tendentious exercise."

"The reality is, as you bleed Fisk to death, you bleed the ability to (care for) the Stieglitz collection?

Posted on August 12, 2010
Day 2 of the Fisk trial.

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