Copyright Law

Business Audits Down, Individual Audits Up

Posted on December 29, 2009
The TaxProf crunches the numbers.

"Museum staff have stated that they have tightened their payroll management system to prevent this type of crime from happening in the future"

Posted on December 29, 2009
A former payroll manager at the Brooklyn Museum (mentioned earlier here) has plead guilty to charges of embezzling more than $620,000 by making payments to phantom employees: "According to an affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney?s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Newton?s scam began in 2005 when he created a profile for a fictitious employee known as 'Brooklyn Museum' or 'Brooklyn...

Friede Feud Finished

Posted on December 29, 2009
At least tentatively so. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: "Most of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum's cornerstone collection of Oceanic art will stay put under a deal that San Francisco officials have struck to resolve an inheritance dispute that threatened to have the collection dismantled...

Worthy Cause

Posted on December 23, 2009
I don't usually use the blog for this sort of thing, but wanted to call attention to a really terrific event that our clients Richard and Clara Serra are putting together to benefit The Family Resource Center of The Partnership for the Homeless. A bunch of great artists are participating, and it's hard to think of a more worthy cause -- looking out for the education of homeless kids...

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Claremont Closing Sunday

Posted on December 23, 2009
"Bowing to continued financial pressure and a lack of donations, the Claremont Museum of Art said today that it would close its doors to the public on Dec. 27 and move its permanent collection to a warehouse." Judith Dobrzynski isn't shedding many tears.

The Chauffeur (allegedly) Did It

Posted on December 22, 2009
I'm a little late on this art crime story, but worth mentioning:"Cops say former chauffeur James Biear ripped off the 80-year-old grandson of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, stealing an Andy Warhol painting worth $220,000, a $64,000 sketch and family heirlooms from [the victim's] Greenwich Village home, police said...

"And of course, hundreds of others have cut staff, hours, programs"

Posted on December 21, 2009
Judith Dobrzynski counts 26 museum closures in 2009.

Poster Boy Update

Posted on December 21, 2009
Poster Boy (profiled earlier this year by Randy Kennedy in the NYT) agreed to a plea deal requiring 210 hours of community service.

Guilty Plea

Posted on December 21, 2009
Newsday reports: "The former director of Long Island University's Hillwood Art Museum admitted Friday to stealing nine ancient Egyptian artifacts and pocketing $32,000 from the sale of some of them, saying he did so to seek retribution against LIU for mistreating him...

"We're appealing to get a clarification"

Posted on December 21, 2009
Even though, on the whole, he prevailed in his lawsuit against the University of Alabama, sports artist Daniel Moore wants the shutout:"In a November ruling, Senior District Judge Robert Propst said that Moore's paintings of football players don't infringe on any UA trademark so long as no university symbols or logos are used...

Randolph Resolution

Posted on December 21, 2009
The Randolph College deaccessioning lawsuit is over: "Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Leyburn Mosby signed an order distributing the $500,000 bond that secured the temporary injunction that barred the sale of the art in late 2007. The bond is to be divided with $300,000 going to Randolph College...

"Art is simply not an asset class which lends itself to hedge-fund strategies"

Posted on December 21, 2009
Says Felix Salmon.

"No one wants to sell your collection ..."

Posted on December 21, 2009
"... but we?ve had the collection in storage for 3 years and we felt that this was urgent enough that we needed these funds to save this program."The Hollywood Entertainment Museum is auctioning off items from its collection, not to buy more Hollywood memorabilia, but to preserve its educational programs...

Fresno museum set to close

Posted on December 16, 2009
"Absent a miracle," it looks like the Fresno Metropolitan Museum is about to shut its doors. The Fresno Bee has the story here.I found this part interesting. Apparently, a limited liability company called Friends of The Met was formed to raise money for the museum...

"This is the only time I can think of when someone has allegedly stolen something and soon thereafter has consigned it himself to public auction"

Posted on December 16, 2009
The New York Observer on an unusual art theft investigation.

"That will continue, regardless of where the foundation is located"

Posted on December 16, 2009
Philadelphia Weekly talks with Blake Bradford, the Barnes Foundation?s new director of education. He says: "The hang [installation of the paintings and objects] is going to be the same; the galleries are going to be the same. It won?t be the mosh pit, blockbuster experience...

"Even security experts find the linkage of terrorism and photography dubious, at best"

Posted on December 14, 2009
Jim Johnson: British Authorities Continue to Harass Photographers (some more).

Art theft via backhoe

Posted on December 14, 2009
You don't see that very often. From the AP: "Police say a Pennsylvania man used a backhoe to break into a museum owned by his father -- the renowned fantasy artist Frank Frazetta -- in an attempt to steal 90 paintings worth $20 million." You also don't see many museums described as being "owned" by someone, so this is a pretty strange story all around at this point...

"The institution anticipates that it will not be able to resume these or any other payments with respect to the bonds for the foreseeable future"

Posted on December 12, 2009
The American Folk Art Museum seems to be having some financial problems.Some would say that some would say that the museum should just sell a couple of Henry Dargers to take care of the problem.But what I would say, first, is: Why does it have to be a couple of Dargers? We keep being told that museums have mountains of stuff in their basements, just taking up space...

New Journal of Art Crime Column

Posted on December 11, 2009
The new issue of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime is out. My column this time is on the Ninth Circuit's decision in Von Saher v. The Norton Simon Museum. An excerpt:"The implication of the decision seems to be that, if California had extended its statute of limitations for all stolen property claims (or for all claims of stolen artwork in particular), then the claim would have survived...

"The story of a fraud investigation that uncovered a philosophical problem"

Posted on December 11, 2009
Via The Art Market Monitor.

Know Your Rights

Posted on December 11, 2009
Jonathan Melber, co-author of ART/WORK: Everything You Need To Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career, will be teaching a class this winter at the School of Visual Arts called "Law School for Visual Artists." The course description:"Taking a practical, user-friendly approach to legal topics for visual artists, this course will address how to protect yourself and your artwork in a way that's easy to understand...

More Law School for Visual Artists

Posted on December 11, 2009
Yesterday I mentioned Jonathan Melber's upcoming course at the School of Visual Arts. Today I see that Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has a similar series starting in February, taught by artist and lawyer Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento. Details here.

Annie Leibovitz Update

Posted on December 11, 2009
In today's New York Times. The Art Market Monitor says "the resolution of her deadline with Art Capital seems to have come at great cost by adding more debt to the already substantial pile."

Tips for Year-End Charitable Donations

Posted on December 09, 2009
From the IRS.

Exactly

Posted on December 08, 2009
In an interview with Sarah Douglas, David Gordon, former director of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Milwaukee Art Museum, has this to say about deaccessioning:'The position of the American Association of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors is that it is always wrong unless the funds are used to buy new art...

Drouot Charges

Posted on December 08, 2009
Preliminary charges have been filed against nine employees of Drouot auction house in Paris in the stolen art case mentioned in the weekend wrap-up here. The New York Times explains that "under French law, preliminary charges give the judge more time to investigate and determine whether to send the case to trial...

"We can confirm we had a report of a stolen brick from a gallery and we are investigating it"

Posted on December 08, 2009
A brick work by artist Gavin Turk was stolen from a gallery -- and replaced with a much less valuable brick, with the words "Thank You Have a Nice Day, Next" printed on it. Story here.

"I should never have tried to cover it up, and I regret that more than anything in my life"

Posted on December 08, 2009
Shepard Fairey talks to New York magazine. Among other things, he says that "since the lawsuit started, I?ve been very careful. I collaborate with photographers, or licensed photographs, or shoot my own photographs and use friends and family as models...

"A really good example of the disjoin between what the law says and what people think the law says"

Posted on December 08, 2009
Lawprof Jacqui Lipton reminds us that the Copyright Act is "a strict liability statute" -- "the intention to infringe is irrelevant."

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