Copyright Law

"A powerful example of the altlaw in action"

Posted on March 26, 2010
Sonia Katyal and Eduardo Peñalver -- authors of Property Outlaws -- make the case for Shepard Fairey as a heroic intellectual property "altlaw" -- i.e., someone who pushes this boundaries of what the law allows.Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento responds here.One question I have is: what if he loses? That is, Katyal and Peñalver argue that "if the law is to avoid being completely captured by the expansive claims of intellectual property owners, it needs more plaintiffs--and more cases--that enable courts to clarify the boundaries of fair use for the future...

"A momentous, elating acquisition that makes us all proud"

Posted on March 23, 2010
MoMA has acquired the @ symbol into its collection: "Being in the public realm, @ is free. It might be the only truly free?albeit not the only priceless?object in our collection."

More Minor

Posted on March 23, 2010
Courthouse News Service: "A finance company owned by Bank of America demands that Christie's auction house and the Paul Kasmin Gallery turn over more than 100 artworks that belonged to CNET founder Halsey Minor - or the money from selling them. ML Private Finance says it holds a $21...

"What often gets lost in the emotional Barnes debate . . ."

Posted on March 23, 2010
". . . is that judges regularly toss out trust restrictions and substitute new provisions that probably would have appalled the original benefactors."

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How about "The Section 11 of the Indenture Foundation"?

Posted on March 22, 2010
Ed Winkleman watched The Art of the Steal and came away searching for a new name for the Barnes (he considers, among others, "The P.A.L. Foundation (for Pew Charitable Trusts; the Annenberg Foundation; and The Lenfest Foundation)").He also says that "no one who watches this film could possibly imagine that the central Philadelphia location is anything Dr...

File Under "You Can't Win"

Posted on March 20, 2010
"City of Fresno Catches Major Heat for Trying to Save Its Metropolitan Museum."

And Many Moore!

Posted on March 19, 2010
Adam Jones of the Tuscaloosa News: "It?s been five years today, March 18, since the University of Alabama sued alumnus and sports artist Daniel Moore for trademark violations and Moore countersued for damaging his business. If a child were born that day, he?d start kindergarten in August...

NYT on Rothschild Foundation

Posted on March 18, 2010
The New York Times had a story today -- on the front page, no less -- on the Judith Rothschild Foundation. The headline is "Foundation Promotes Art as Well as Sole Trustee." The Charity Governance Blog's Jack Siegel says: "That headline and the story [suggest] scandal...

Salander to Plead Guilty

Posted on March 18, 2010
Says the NY Post.

There Will Be More Moore

Posted on March 18, 2010
Sports artist Daniel Moore's appeal in his lawsuit with the University of Alabama has been reinstated. Background here.

Linkage (Gardner Heist 20th Anniversary Edition)

Posted on March 17, 2010
Randy Kennedy.Derek Fincham.Interview with Ulrich Boser, author of "The Gardner Heist" ("If I were to speculate -- and this is raw speculation -- I believe these paintings are most likely in the Boston area, most likely the thieves have lost control of them, and maybe hid them away in an attic somewhere")...

"Nobody viewing the movie should be under the illusion that they are getting a balanced representation of the issues and facts"

Posted on March 17, 2010
It seems that Gary Steuer -- the Chief Cultural Officer for the City of Philadelphia -- is a blogger, and today he has a post on the Barnes move. Because of who he is, I'm sure the Usual Suspects will dismiss his arguments out of hand, but it would be more interesting if they bothered to respond on the merits...

Still More Linkage

Posted on March 17, 2010
Arrests in Dutch art theft.Stolen Gris recovered by FBI.Disputed Lloyd Webber Picasso to be sold at Christie's."A cautionary tale."

You thought I was hard on "The Art of the Steal"?

Posted on March 16, 2010
The Charity Governance Blog's Jack Siegel takes it to the woodshed: "Unfortunately, the film, with all of its arrogance and hypocrisy, falls way short, doing nothing to advance the ball." Some highlights:"The makers of the Art of the Steal assume government officials, the local foundations, and the big hitters had an obligation to the Barnes Foundation and Dr...

Linkage

Posted on March 16, 2010
Artist sues gallery.Father sues son.Salander update.Legal fakes.Should fashion be protected by copyright?

"The museum was less secure than the average 7-Eleven or bank that night"

Posted on March 16, 2010
Ulrich Boser thinks the Gardner theft was "probably a local job carried out by common thieves who knew the paintings were valuable and that security at the Gardner was relatively lax. ... According to a previous [Boston] Globe investigation, the Gardner was equipped with only one alarm button and two young guards...

"The naïve claim of someone who still believes in Santa Claus"

Posted on March 16, 2010
Adam Lindemann defends the New Museum. (Background here.)

"Mockery and disdain - not legal action - are in most instances the proper response to plagiarism when it is suspected"

Posted on March 16, 2010
Jim Johnson on plagiarism.

"There is an opportunity for someone to return the paintings, become a multimillionaire, and remain confidential"

Posted on March 14, 2010
The latest approach to the Gardner heist.

Frigon Again

Posted on March 13, 2010
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Stephan Salisbury reports that the Philadelphia Museum of Art is suing its insurer to recover for the loss of two paintings it had consigned to the now defunct Salander-O'Reilly Galleries. Two things to note.First, as we all know, the two works the museum was trying to sell -- Maurice Prendergast's The Harbor and Arthur B...

Edelman Suit

Posted on March 11, 2010
Reuters: "Asher Edelman, a former corporate raider who became an art dealer, has been sued by Emigrant Bank for more than $3.1 million after allegedly defaulting on some loans, including one to buy a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti."

Do they ever stop wringing?

Posted on March 11, 2010
Kenneth Turan's generally positive review of "The Art of the Steal" ("Even if you believe that the art should stay where it is, it's hard not to wish that director Don Argott had made the film somewhat more balanced") refers to a 2004 piece by Roberta Smith -- written right after the court had approved the move -- that's really worth reading in full...

Suit Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Enforcement Act

Posted on March 09, 2010
Here.For more on the Act, see here.

Polaroid Collection Update

Posted on March 09, 2010
Interesting report in The Art Newspaper: "A group led by a former US magistrate judge has launched an 11th hour campaign to prevent the auction of photographs from the Polaroid collection." The group is said to be "working towards filing a motion for a rehearing at the Minnesota bankruptcy court that awarded sale rights to Sotheby?s last August...

Leibovitz Latest

Posted on March 09, 2010
Randy Kennedy in the NYT: "The photographer Annie Leibovitz ... has reached an agreement with Colony Capital, a Los Angeles firm, to help her restructure her debt .... Under the deal, Colony ? which manages about $30 billion in assets, mostly in real estate ? will become Ms Leibovitz?s only creditor ...

Off the Wagon

Posted on March 08, 2010
I know I said I would take a break from "The Art of the Steal," but a few interesting pieces appeared over the weekend that are worth noting.First, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Barnes chairman Bernard Watson says the film is an example of "voodoo history": "The film would have the public believe that the Philadelphia philanthropic community, the Barnes' trustees, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Inquirer itself, were all engaged in a conspiracy hatched well over a decade ago to 'steal' the collection ...

More on Charitable Deductions

Posted on March 08, 2010
GW lawprof Sarah Lawsky on Obama's itemized deduction proposal:"Won't this proposal reduce charitable giving? The short answer is: almost certainly yes, though the degree to which it would do so is debated. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, for example, thinks the effect would be small; others are more concerned...

The Economics of Fakes

Posted on March 08, 2010
Mark Durney had an interesting post on the subject over the weekend, with links to David Gill ("forgeries have corrupted collections for centuries") and Bruno Frey ("the harmful effects of fakes are small and mitigated by emerging institutions (guarantees, sellers with reputation)").

On Outlaws

Posted on March 08, 2010
I've been meaning to mention Sonia Katyal and Eduardo M. Penalver's Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates, and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership, and I now see that they've posted the introduction online here. Here's the abstract:"Property Outlaws puts forth the intriguingly counterintuitive proposition that, in the case of both tangible and intellectual property law, disobedience can often lead to an improvement in legal regulation...

More Fresno Fallout

Posted on March 05, 2010
The Fresno Bee reports: "The son and daughter-in-law of famed nature photographer Ansel Adams have filed a civil complaint in Fresno County Superior Court to prevent six of Adams' prints from being auctioned off by the Fresno Metropolitan Museum."The background: "The Met closed in January and already has auctioned off tools, office equipment and other items to raise money to pay creditors...

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