Copyright Law

Leibovitz Settlement

Posted on September 11, 2009
Annie Leibovitz and Art Capital Group have resolved their dispute. The Art Market Monitor explains what happened.

"The entire work is about loss and memory"

Posted on September 11, 2009
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has a new exhibit up that takes as its subject the infamous 1990 theft there. You can read about it here. Gardner Heist author Ulrich Boser offers some thoughts here.

"This was a very clean crime. For some reason they had an interest in this collection"

Posted on September 11, 2009
The New York Times reports that "a multimillion-dollar collection of artwork by Andy Warhol was stolen from the home of a wealthy art collector in West Los Angeles last week." There were "several other valuable works of art" in the home, but "none of those were disturbed," according to the police.

"The Southampton City Council has decided to sell parts of its permanent collection"

Posted on September 10, 2009
Derek Fincham discusses a case of deaccessioning in the UK. He says "if we were to apply the current rules of the AAMD to this sale, the sale would be perfectly acceptable would it not? These works do not fall within the scope of Southampton's collection...

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Roerich Arrest

Posted on September 10, 2009
The second stolen Roerich painting has been recovered, and a Brooklyn couple arrested after trying to sell it to an undercover police officer. The New York Post has the story here. New York magazine: "When Trying to Sell Your Stolen Painting, Leave Out the ?Stolen? Part...

"Guaranteed to upset more than a few people on both sides of the Barnes battle"

Posted on September 10, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer film critic Stephen Rea from the Toronto Film Festival:"Of particular interest to Philadelphia-area residents, and art lovers the world over, is Don Argott's The Art of the Steal, a conspiracy theory-documentary about the Barnes collection and its controversial move from Merion to a new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway...

"Navigating the Deaccessioning Crisis"

Posted on September 10, 2009
Speaking of Derek Fincham, he's posted a working manuscript of his soon to be published law review article on deaccessioning. Here his summary:"My proposal has three parts. First, the unnecessary restriction on deaccession proceeds should be eliminated...

A Closer Look at the Leibovitz-Lavazza Lawsuit

Posted on September 09, 2009
From Daryl Lang at Photo District News.

"It hopes its existence will prove a 'crucial step' in the fight against the flourishing illegal trade"

Posted on September 08, 2009
The Guardian has more on the Interpol online stolen art database.

Rose Update

Posted on September 08, 2009
In the Brandeis Justice, Alana Abramson has the latest on the Rose lawsuit. There was a case management conference on Sept. 1. It's on a fairly fast track. The university will be filing a motion to dismiss by Sept. 15; the plaintiffs will be moving for a preliminary injunction by the same date...

A Long Beach Question

Posted on September 08, 2009
Felix Salmon wonders why the Long Beach Museum of Art would run the risk of losing half a million dollars a year in operating support from the city by failing to repay the $3 million loan the city says it owes:"I find that hard to understand: it should just take the $569,000 and use some fraction of it to pay off the $3 million over time, spending the rest on art and programming...

Another Leibovitz Lawsuit

Posted on September 07, 2009
Italian photographer Paolo Pizzetti has sued Annie Leibovitz for copyright infringement in federal court in New York, alleging that she used his work without permission in an ad campaign she did for Lavazza coffee. BBC News story here.

More Park West

Posted on September 05, 2009
The National Law Journal reports that Park West Gallery is facing a seventh lawsuit:"The lawsuit, filed Aug. 26 in federal court in Detroit, alleges that a Park West appraiser ... conspired with the gallery to destroy the reputation of Fine Art Registry, which is investigating the gallery for alleged deceptive practices...

Long Beach Update

Posted on September 05, 2009
Interesting twist in the Long Beach Museum of Art story mentioned earlier in the summer here. Back in June, it was reported that "in 1999, the [museum] launched a campaign to obtain funds for construction of a new two-story exhibition pavilion" and, "under the [1999] agreement, the city promised to accept liability for the bond debt if the foundation could not pay it off...

"The investigation into Kozlowski?s illicit activities was triggered by his art buying activities"

Posted on September 04, 2009
Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski is back in the news. Lindsay Pollock reminds us where his troubles started.

Back in play?

Posted on September 03, 2009
For a while there, it seemed President Obama's idea to limit charitable deductions was off the table. But the Wall Street Journal reports today that "the main proposal getting renewed attention" from Senate Democrats is one to "limit the federal tax deductions for higher-income families for mortgage interest and other widely claimed purposes, said two senior Senate Democratic aides...

Cleveland Kerfuffle

Posted on September 02, 2009
Lee Rosenbaum calls attention to The Cleveland Museum of Art's recent request for court permission to "use for a period years a portion of the income from two charitable trusts and two endowment funds to assist with the funding of the renovation and expansion of its facilities" (Complaint paragraph 2)...

"Annie Leibovitz's exit strategy"

Posted on September 01, 2009
Felix Salmon examines the options.

"Few things are more alluring than the vision of a dark mind hanging on the wall"

Posted on September 01, 2009
Newsweek on "criminal art" (not work so bad there should be a law against it, but work by prisoners).

"Can the art trade do more to reform its own practices?"

Posted on September 01, 2009
Derek Fincham has more on the San Francisco dealer indicted for selling fake Miro prints, mentioned earlier here. Related thoughts from Derek here.

"All we really have is our word"

Posted on August 29, 2009
New Mexico's KRQE reports that "a woman who sold two paintings to an Albuquerque art dealer-appraiser for $4,500 later auctioned for $661,000 won a cash settlement in court this week after alleging she had been defrauded." That's a slightly misleading way of putting it: it makes it sound as if the dealer-appraiser bought them at $4,500 and turned around and re-sold them for the $661,000, when, in fact, according to the story, he sold them for $35,000, and they then "passed hands two more times" and eventually sold at auction for the larger figure...

"The question is simply why there?s such anger"

Posted on August 28, 2009
An "honest question" from the Art Market Monitor for "the vocal opponents of deaccessioning." (The subject this time is Robin Pogrebin's recent NYT piece on "turnkey" museum exhibitions organized by corporations. Judith Dobrzynski, Ed Winkleman, and Derek Fincham all commented on the story earlier in the week...

More on the Peters Gallery Lawsuit

Posted on August 27, 2009
Josh Baer gets a statement from the Gerald Peters Gallery on the lawsuit mentioned here: "This lawsuit appears to be grounded in nothing more than buyers remorse, likely brought about by the economic downturn. Neither the facts nor the law support the claims made...

Found (but maybe never lost)

Posted on August 27, 2009
Yesterday, Derek Fincham flagged a story that a Picasso painting "which was looted by an Iraqi soldier during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait has been recovered by Iraqi security forces." Today comes news that maybe it's not a Picasso after all: "The painting has a tag on the back with several misspellings that says it was sold by 'the louvre' to 'the museum of kuwait,' with the words Louvre and Kuwait in lower case...

No Nudes at the Met

Posted on August 27, 2009
A 26-year-old model was arrested yesterday after posing naked for a photo shoot in the arms and armor room of the Met. She was charged with two crimes: endangering the welfare of a minor and public lewdness. The photographer, Zach Hyman, has not been charged...

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that "the University of Iowa has established an envisioning committee to consider options for the future of the UI Museum of Art, the university announced Tuesday."Derek Fincham sums up the state of play: "So, we have a situation where it is not possible to return the works to the original, flood-prone museum; and paying for a new museum will be difficult...

"Ruling is a setback for sports artist"

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Tuscaloosa News has the latest in Daniel Moore's lawsuit with the University of Alabama, now in its fifth year and on its fifth judge.

"I won?t let anyone treat me like this" (UPDATED)

Posted on August 26, 2009
Bloomberg has more on the lawsuit by Moscow dealer Gary Tatintsian against Luhring Augustine Gallery, mentioned last week here.UPDATE: Some thoughts on the story from the Art Market Monitor: "Nobody likes to be treated like they?re second in line."

"Ye gods, man, you're accused of what, making a million and a half bucks by ripping off who, a bunch of nuns?"

Posted on August 26, 2009
In the Maine Antique Digest, David Hewett has the latest twist in the story of the nuns and their $2 million Bouguereau, mentioned earlier here and here.

Wildenstein Dismissal Affirmed

Posted on August 25, 2009
Back in Sept. 2007, I mentioned the dismissal of a state court lawsuit against Guy Wildenstein. The Appellate Division has now affirmed, but, interestingly, two judges wrote separate dissents.The case concerns an appraisal Wildenstein wrote and which the plaintiff claims overstated the value of the work...

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