Copyright Law

A Randolph Sale

Posted on April 25, 2008
Also in today's New York Times, Carol Vogel reports that Randolph College is selling one of the four paintings involved in its recent deaccessioning lawsuit at Christie's on May 28: "The [Rufino Tamayo] painting had been the cover image of Christie?s Latin American sale catalog in November...

Malevich Compromise

Posted on April 25, 2008
Randy Kennedy in this morning's New York Times: "The city of Amsterdam and the heirs of the Russian avant-garde painter Kasimir Malevich have reached an agreement in a long-running battle over the ownership of 14 works that the heirs had said were rightfully theirs...

"Why does the lion want to eat the mouse?"

Posted on April 24, 2008
Martha Lufkin has a report on the Rauschenberg trash lawsuit in The Art Newspaper.

"This is it. Now we can celebrate."

Posted on April 24, 2008
I hadn't realized that the "Gross Clinic" story wasn't over, but today brings news that, through the sale of another Eakins painting, the Philadelphia Museum had raised the last of the $68 million that was needed to keep the painting from leaving town...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Russian Art Lawsuit

Posted on April 23, 2008
In today's New York Sun, Kate Taylor has a story on a "porcelain centerpiece that was among the top presale lots in Sotheby?s Russian art sales last week" but is now "at the center of a legal dispute, in which a Great Neck man claims that the dealer who put the piece up for auction stole it from his home and then told him he would be killed by the Russian mafia if he tried to recover it...

Not to Burn

Posted on April 23, 2008
Nabokov's son has decided not to comply with his father's direction to destroy his unfinished last novel. See here for the background.

Kurtz Charges Dropped

Posted on April 22, 2008
The AP reports that a federal judge yesterday dismissed the mail and wire fraud indictment against Buffalo professor Steven Kurtz as "insufficient on its face."Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento says it's about time ("After approximately five years of wasting public monies on a ridiculous charge ...

"It seems that neither diamonds nor fine art are truly forever"

Posted on April 22, 2008
The International Herald Tribune has a lengthy story on the Ralph Esmerian saga. It's mostly about the $187 million he owes Merrill Lynch for financing his purchase of the Fred Leighton jewelry company, but also touches on his troubles with Christie's and Sotheby's:"Some of the paintings Esmerian gave to the American Folk Art Museum were outright gifts, and some were merely promised as gifts, with the understanding that they were being used as collateral on a loan from Sotheby's...

"Architects are now regularly asked to sign confidentiality agreements that forbid them to talk to the press"

Posted on April 21, 2008
Nicolai Ouroussoff in The New York Times this weekend.

Youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com

Posted on April 21, 2008
Bill Patry takes a look at a new "open blog for artists to post material they think has been ripped off, preferably by corporations."

That Yale Art Controversy (UPDATED)

Posted on April 21, 2008
Lawprof Eugene Volokh has a good post on the "abortion art" controversy at Yale. (For background, see here.) As he points out, since "Yale is a private university, ... the issue here is properly one of professional principles of academic freedom rather than of the First Amendment as such...

"What helped make this possible is the existence in the US of tax incentives for gifts of works of art that benefit the donors while they are alive"

Posted on April 20, 2008
Tate Director Nicholas Serota on how to increase giving to British museums:"In Britain, there are tax benefits when works of art are given to the nation - but the donor has to be dead. This is the acceptance-in-lieu scheme, which gives tax relief on the deceased's estate...

"Addressing concerns about the decline of French culture . . ."

Posted on April 20, 2008
" . . . , French Culture Minister Christine Albanel unveiled a series of proposals earlier this month to stimulate spending on art works by French buyers. She wants to change exisiting laws so that the sale and auction of modern art can become as simple in France as it is in booming American and British markets...

Another Pollock Authentication Dispute

Posted on April 20, 2008
From Friday's New York Post (headline: "You Don't Know Jack!"):"A world-renowned fingerprint analyst says a purported Pollock painting found in a Long Island garage is a worthless knockoff - and an expert who authenticated it based on a fingerprint is a fraud...

Salander Update

Posted on April 18, 2008
Bloomberg's Philip Boroff reports that "U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris [yesterday] approved a motion to convert the Salanders' [personal bankruptcy] case from a Chapter 11 reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation."

Inside Art (Law)

Posted on April 18, 2008
Lots of art law in Carol Vogel's "Inside Art" column in today's New York Times.First, she writes about "the tumultuous saga of the jeweler Ralph O. Esmerian ? who owes some $187 million to Merrill Lynch, $11.5 million to Sotheby?s and $7.5 million to Christie?s" and is "is scheduled to pay down a chunk of his Sotheby?s debt" when it sells his version of Edward Hicks's "Peaceable Kingdom" at auction next month...

But who's counting?

Posted on April 17, 2008
The Guggenheim Bilbao's financial director confesses to embezzlement: "I have appropriated various amounts for my own benefit for a total of EUR 486,979.38."

Machu Picchu Update

Posted on April 16, 2008
Derek Fincham has the latest on the Yale-Peru dispute. Peruvian researchers are now saying more than 40,000 objects were taken -- which is 10 times the original estimate. Derek wonders if Peru is in danger of overplaying its hand: "By increasing the claims that Yale University has mistreated Peruvian heritage, I wonder if perhaps Peru may risk losing the bargaining chips which were gained in the 2007 [memorandum of understanding]...

Persistence

Posted on April 15, 2008
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento points to a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais to the effect that "The Dali Foundation reported net earnings in 2007 of ?1.3 million based on reproduction rights, trademarks and rights of publicity for Salvador Dali and his works...

Bond Battle

Posted on April 15, 2008
Randolph College is going after the $500,000 bond that was posted by the plaintiffs in the (since withdrawn) lawsuit challenging the school's right to sell four paintings. "According to the [new] lawsuit, the school estimated it would have received about $50 million for the four paintings ...

Scientifically Proven

Posted on April 15, 2008
ARTINFO.com reports that "the Prado has withheld a widely acclaimed Francisco de Goya work from an upcoming exhibition, citing doubts about the painting's attribution." More here from Tyler Green.Virginia Heffernan isn't impressed with the "science" behind the decision.

"You don't get yourself into negotiations involving a stolen picture and large sums of money"

Posted on April 14, 2008
The Los Angeles Times reports today that Jonathan Petropoulos has resigned as director of Claremont McKenna College's Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights in the wake of a controversy relating to attempts to recover a multimillion-dollar Pisarro painting...

Tax Change

Posted on April 14, 2008
The New York Times reports that among the changes in the new budget approved by the New York State Legislature last week is a requirement that "nonprofit organizations like museums ... collect sales taxes on T-shirts, mugs and other items."András Szántó: "The same politicians who walked way from half a billion dollars in annual revenues from a Manhattan traffic congestion charge will combat future deficits with a tithe on postcards and mouse pads...

"When you give away $50 million or $60 million of folk art -- I could've sold that and not had to borrow anything"

Posted on April 14, 2008
Bloomberg's Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff have more on Ralph Esmerian's "financial pickle," including the following:"Even New York's American Folk Art Museum, an institution Esmerian championed for three decades, was forced to relinquish a prized painting because of his woes...

"Lawyers, artists the world over are captivated by case"

Posted on April 13, 2008
Mary Wozniak has a package of stories in today's Southwest Florida News-Press on the Rauschenberg-trash lawsuit. I'm quoted in this one. The point I was trying to make is that even if you accept that Rauschenberg "abandoned" the physical objects at issue, that doesn't necessarily resolve the question of what intellectual property rights he still has in them (e...

"After this, Gehry, Rem Koolhaas ? boring"

Posted on April 13, 2008
I meant to link to this terrific article last week about the East Hampton house designed by artists Arakawa and Gins. "The house is off-limits to children, and adults are asked to sign a waiver when they enter." (The "main concern" is the flooring, which "rises and falls like the surface of a vast, bumpy chocolate chip cookie...

50 x 50

Posted on April 13, 2008
In Friday's New York Times, Carol Vogel had a story on collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel and their "50 Works for 50 States" initiative -- they're going to give blocks of 50 works to each of 50 museums, across the country. The gifts come with two conditions: "The museum must exhibit the works within five years (with exceptions made when expansion or renovation closes a building), and the works may be transferred only if they are given to another institution as a group...

475 Kent Update

Posted on April 13, 2008
The Brooklyn Paper's Caroline Jackson: "Roughly two dozen of the more than 200 artists and residents who were kicked out of [475 Kent Ave.] in January are participating in a group show, '475 Kent Lives,'" at the Queens Museum of Art.The Brownstoner says there's a chance the residents could be back in next month.

One Moore Judge

Posted on April 13, 2008
The University of Alabama?s lawsuit against artist Daniel Moore is now on its fourth judge. District Court Judge David Proctor, who'd presided over the case since July 2005, recently recused himself "after strong disagreements with Moore over the appointment of a special master to broker a settlement between the two sides...

June 15

Posted on April 10, 2008
One more item from Josh Baer: "If you have, or think you have, an art claim against the Salander-O'Reilly Galleries you have until June 15th to file a claim with the US Bankruptcy Court."

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.