Copyright Law

"The thief, or thieves, was either very smart or very, very lucky"

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

"The side door of the home in the hills of Encino was unlocked on the Saturday morning in late August. The elderly owners were in a back room, otherwise occupied. The maid had stepped out. So the thief stepped in -- and made quick work of the wealthy real estate investors' multimillion-dollar art collection. Marc Chagall's 'Les Paysans,' gone. Diego Rivera's 'Mexican Peasant,' a blank spot on the wall. Arshile Gorky's 'Cubist Still Life,' ditto. ... By the time the maid returned about an hour later, at least a dozen artworks ... had been stripped from the home. ... The anti-theft system, for whatever reason, did not prevent the heist."

Derek Fincham reviews the four possible reasons for the theft.

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).