Copyright Law

"Tie goes to the runner"

Posted on April 03, 2009
In today's New York Law Journal, former New York Times vice chairman Jim Goodale has a unique take [$] on the Shepard Fairey-AP dispute.

"Without a meaningful debate on those issues, we?re left with shrieking and moralizing that does little to bolster the public trust"

Posted on April 03, 2009
The Art Market Monitor points out another problem with the "public trust" argument against deaccessioning:"If museums are a public trust for future generations, why are they allowed to duplicate missions and compete for works? As we?ve recently seen in Los Angeles, there is wasteful competition for donor funding, duplication of infrastructure and the failure of museum trustees to live up to their responsibilities all over...

UBS Shuts Down Art Advisory Business

Posted on April 02, 2009
The AP reports that UBS has "closed its 'art banking' department, which helps rich clients buy and build collections. The department was created in 1998 and provided customers with research on prices and artists, and consulted them on estimates, transport, storage, restoration and inheritance of art works...

"The precedent that it would have set for public art would have been terrible -- we had to fight it"

Posted on April 02, 2009
On the occasion of a gallery show of his work opening tonight, the LA Times profiles mural artist Kent Twitchell, whose six-story high "Ed Ruscha Monument" was painted over in 2006, leading to a lawsuit against the federal government (among others), which settled for $1...

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Debating Deaccessioning

Posted on April 01, 2009
I have a piece on deaccessioning in the new Art in America.

"Charities fight tax change"

Posted on April 01, 2009
The Politico's Ben Smith reports that "the White House heard in two meetings [yesterday] from non-profit officials opposed to lowering the charity deduction for the wealthy, a move they fear would lower contributions."

I think they need better talking points

Posted on March 31, 2009
Ford Bell, President of the American Association of Museums, has a letter to the editor of The New York Times, responding to the Floyd Norris piece I mentioned here.He writes in to say that Norris failed "to consider the essential point of museum collections: once an object falls under the aegis of a museum, it is held in the public trust, to be accessible to present and future generations...

"Christie's notified Weiss's representatives and his art agent that all was well"

Posted on March 30, 2009
I took a look at the complaint in the Christie's withdrawn-guarantee lawsuit. Here's the timeline it presents:July 23: Christie's top execs meet with Weiss to discuss the work.July 28: Christie's memorializes its offer in writing."Late July": Weiss accepts the offer and informs Sotheby's he is "going with Christie's...

Astor Trial About to Begin

Posted on March 30, 2009
This morning's New York Times previews the criminal trial of Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and his co-defendant, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who was involved in her estate planning. Jury selection begins today, and the Times reminds us that an art-related charge is at the center of the case:"Both men face charges of conspiracy and scheming to defraud...

Less and less engagement

Posted on March 30, 2009
Geoff Edgers rounds up the latest museum-related bad news. The University of Connecticut museums are restricting their hours, and closing entirely on the weekends. A couple of Pennsylvania museums may close down altogether.And Tyler Green reports that, due to a budget-related security staff shortage, the Hirsshhorn "has been forced to close substantial sections of the museum...

"As I held Kaindl's ad in my hands, the injustice of the outcome rankled"

Posted on March 30, 2009
Regina Hackett on "how the legal system, the press and his nerve failed Dale Chihuly."

"Bernie Madoff is to Larry Salander what AIG's losses are to your personal 401(k)" (UPDATED)

Posted on March 30, 2009
Ed Winkleman: Three Grumpy Thoughts on the Salander Case.UPDATE: Bruce Watson: "The greatest strength in Salander's scheme lay in its simplicity. Unlike Bernie Madoff, who had to continually find fresh money to replenish his business, Salander merely had to keep investors from discovering each other...

"Evidently, Maluk did not overexert himself in satisfying his heroin fix"

Posted on March 30, 2009
A second arrest has been made in the New Haven art thefts I mentioned last week. Mark Durney has some thoughts on earlier Connecticut art thefts. Noah Charney points out that "Yale has provided a petri dish for the study of art crime over the past two months alone...

"A Tug of War Over Robert Motherwell"

Posted on March 27, 2009
Robin Pogrebin reports on a pair of dueling lawsuits.

Salander Indicted (UPDATED 3X)

Posted on March 26, 2009
The New York Times reports:"A noted Upper East Side art dealer has been indicted on charges he stole $88 million from investors and collectors who consigned artwork to him and said they were cheated out of the sale proceeds or never saw the pieces again ...

"Some works will be sold at Christie?s spring auctions"

Posted on March 26, 2009
Carol Vogel's latest "Inside Art" column reports that the Montclair Art Museum has "decided to begin aggressively deaccessioning ... artwork, costumes, rugs and books."In other words: it's selling objects that, we are solemnly told, it holds "in trust" for the public, in this case the dear citizens of Montclair, New Jersey...

"It is often said that a high-profile art theft ... can actually be a good thing for increasing visitors"

Posted on March 26, 2009
Derek Fincham on the "Munch effect."

"Top Ten Things Every Artist Should Know"

Posted on March 25, 2009
Heather Bhandari and Jonathan Melber, authors of the just-released Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career, which touches on a number of art law issues, will be doing a workshop/book-signing tonight at McNally Jackson bookstore in New York.

"The first meeting largely consisted of discussions revolving around the exact charge, or purpose, of the committee"

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Committee on the Future of the Rose Art Museum had its first meeting.

"No one likes to have anything stolen, but when it?s something that?s absorbed as much time, energy & emotion as a painting, it?s especially bad news"

Posted on March 24, 2009
Police in Connecticut discovered 39 paintings that had been stolen from various New Haven venues, including Yale?s Slifka Center and the public library. The paintings were recovered during a weekend drug raid; the art had apparently been traded for bags of heroin...

"Here was someone we thought was a supporter of ours, and he pulled the rug out from under us"

Posted on March 24, 2009
Sadly, artists Arakawa and Gins (mentioned earlier here) were among Bernie Madoff's victims, losing their life savings. Wall Street Journal story here.

"President Obama Stands By Proposed Charitable-Deduction Limits"

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has the story. And from the NYT's Live Blog of tonight's news conference:"Mike Allen of the Politico asked Mr. Obama whether he was reconsidering his plans. No, the president said. ... 'I?ll tell you what has a significant impact on charitable giving, is a financial crisis and an economy that?s contracting,' he said...

More on Media Coverage of Art Crime

Posted on March 23, 2009
From Mark Durney. Earlier installment here.

Bonus Post

Posted on March 23, 2009
The Wall Street Journal: "American International Group Inc. (AIG) and Starr International Co. have resolved a long-running dispute over an art collection valued at one point at more than $15 million, in order to focus on a broader fight over control of Starr's ownership stake in the insurer...

Christie's Sued

Posted on March 22, 2009
For $40 million. The New York Times:"Christie's is being sued by a family trust led by the Connecticut collector George A. Weiss, who says the auction house reneged on a $40 million guarantee when it tried but failed to sell a 1964 painting by Francis Bacon in November...

"What do people opposed to the sale of paintings think suddenly poor institutions should do?"

Posted on March 20, 2009
I've mentioned a couple of times how the attitudes towards deaccessioning among those within the art world are so different from those outside the art world. Those inside the art world tend to look at deaccessioning as a Crime Against Humanity (though of course, if the proceeds are used to buy more art, deaccessioning "is not a dirty word")...

"We want to get to trial and UA doesn't"

Posted on March 20, 2009
The University of Alabama's lawsuit against sports artist Daniel Moore is still rolling on. Moore has a statement about the case here.

Singer on Art Philanthropy

Posted on March 20, 2009
From Dwight Garner's recent New York Times review of philosopher Peter Singer's new book on world poverty, "The Life You Can Save":"Some of Mr. Singer?s contentions are harder to stomach. 'Philanthropy for the arts or for cultural activities is, in a world like this one, morally dubious,' he declares...

"Overall, we would much prefer the New York legislature keeping its nose out of private sector business"

Posted on March 18, 2009
Jack Siegel, author of the Desktop Guide for Nonprofit Directors, Officers, and Advisors, is not impressed with the NY anti-deaccessioning bill. He says "we can understand why the New York Legislature would stick its nose into museum business if it is funding grants to those museums, but we don?t like this legislation to the extent it applies to private, self-supporting museums...

"Stranger still, the project has never been given a formal unveiling, the idea never credited to any person, and the work never titled"

Posted on March 18, 2009
The San Antonio Current has a story on a very odd copyright lawsuit that's an excellent example of how difficult it can sometimes be to separate idea from expression.

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