Sunday, May 12, 2019

"They just lost the only ally they ever had. I am going to rip them apart. … I am done being a nice guy with them. They can all go to hell."

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Developments in the Robert Indiana litigation.  Background here .

"A High-Profile Impressionist Art Collector Says Wildenstein Sold Him a ‘Clever Fake’ Bonnard—and Now the Courts Will Decide"

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Eileen Kinsella has the story here .  The sale took place in 1985, so obviously there's a big statute of limitations issue in play.
Tuesday, May 07, 2019

"Copyright small-claims court may soon be a reality."

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"This week, corresponding bills were introduced in the House and Senate, both with bipartisan support, proposing to establish a tribun...

"Artists have filed a lawsuit in hopes of preventing the destruction of a mural on the side of an uptown Normal building slated for demolition."

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" Under the Visual Artists Rights Act, the suit filed Wednesday asks for an injunction 'prohibiting the destruction, distortion, mu...

"Since the banner went up, the university and artist have fought over covering it up and the future of the statue, with Lawless saying his First Amendment rights were being violated."

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Inside Higher Ed:   University Will Pay Sculptor to Move Anti-Trump Art .  He gets $50,000.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

"This surreptitious misappropriation occurred in violation of Peter Max’s specific wishes and the express directives of ALP’s board of directors."

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NYT:   Peter Max’s Studio Is Sued by a Longtime Seller of His Art .
Saturday, April 06, 2019

Latest street art lawsuit

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This time it's Mercedes-Benz suing four artists who they claim "have threatened to sue for copyright infringement."  They...
Wednesday, April 03, 2019

Cert. Denied in California Resale Royalty Case

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Story [ $ ] here.  Background here .
Saturday, March 30, 2019

"MoMA PS1 Settles With Curator Who Said Giving Birth Cost Her Job Offer"

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Story here .  Background here .
Saturday, March 23, 2019

Tell me again about the public trust (twenty-two Chinese jade artworks that have been part of the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection since 1900 edition)

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But don't worry, the decision was " not made lightly ."  Well that's a relief.

"Met Admission Fees Will Send $2.8 Million to Over 175 City Cultural Groups"

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Remember all the tears -- from the usual suspects -- when the Met announced last year that it would take the radical step of starting to do...
Monday, March 18, 2019

"This is unusually broad because they claim they control not only what you take while you’re there but anything about it afterward." (UPDATED)

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Apparently if you get a timed ticket to Thomas Heatherwick's new "Vessel" at Hudson Yards, they make you sign a photo release...
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

"It doesn’t benefit anyone when there are thousands, if not millions, of works of art that are languishing in storage."

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So says Glenn Lowry in this piece by Robin Pogrebin, not realizing that, when it comes to the public trust, "does this benefit anyone?...
Sunday, March 10, 2019

"Next year, Mr. Tananbaum will go buy more art from Mr. Gagosian. I’m the only one getting agita."

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artnet News:   Behind the Scenes of Two Disgruntled Jeff Koons Collectors’ Legal Battle With Gagosian . Background here .

"Supreme Court Holds that Copyright Owners Must Wait for Registration to Sue"

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Resolving a circuit split (some had held that just applying for registration was enough).  News story here .   Opinion here .  Good summary ...
Saturday, March 09, 2019

"With sale of Rothko, is SFMOMA creating a heritage, or dismantling one?"

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I'm a little late to it, but San Francisco Chronicle art critic Charles Desmarais has a piece on SFMOMA's decision to sell a major ...
Saturday, March 02, 2019

"Such a wide discrepancy in valuation could be a concern for the Internal Revenue Service, should Mr. Benioff wish to claim the donation on his tax return ..."

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The Times has a story today about tech billionaire Marc Benioff, who bought a Hawaiian war god sculpture for $7.5 million at auction and th...

"My concern was that Bob would die and it would be a mess. Well, Bob did die and we have a mess. It’s very sad."

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Boston Globe:  In wake of famed artist Robert Indiana's death, a tangle of allegations .

"Art dealer Philippe Hoerle-Guggenheim, who has earned fawning media coverage for his flashy Chelsea gallery and famous name, is facing a lawsuit over allegedly accepting money for artworks—and then failing to deliver them."

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Story here .  "The lawsuit also gets personal, questioning Hoerle-Guggenheim’s alleged ties to Solomon R. Guggenheim."
Sunday, February 24, 2019

"The company that commissioned 'Fearless Girl' is suing its creator."

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" According to court filings dated February 14th, investment firm State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is claiming that the sculptor, Kr...
Monday, February 18, 2019

The Swizz Beatz Resale Royalty Solution

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Mentioned in this NYT Style Magazine profile: "Dean has proposed sidestepping the law entirely and instead introducing an option for...
Sunday, February 17, 2019

"Yoo’s response paints her former employer’s lawsuit as a case of sour grapes."

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artnet:   Accused of Data Theft, Former Lehmann Maupin Director Bona Yoo Fires Back With Her Own Lawsuit Against the Gallery . Backgrou...

Tell me again about the public trust (1960 Rothko edition)

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SFMoMA is selling a 1960 Rothko painting at Sotheby's in May.  It's expected to sell for $35-50 million. Now, you may think thi...
Thursday, February 14, 2019

Thirty Months for Mary Boone (UPDATED 2X)

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Story here .  Background here . UPDATE:  Jerry Saltz still thinks she shouldn't have gotten any jail time:  "You all know where...
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Tell me again about the public trust (Zao Wou-Ki "masterwork" edition)

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The Guggenheim is deaccessioning a 1958 Zao Wou-Ki painting.  It's estimated at $7.7-10 million. Because the sale proceeds will ...
Saturday, January 26, 2019

"How a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting got dragged into a Trump-Russia conspiracy theory"

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From Vox.com .

"In an Explosive Lawsuit ..."

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". . .  Lehmann Maupin Gallery Accuses an Ex-Employee of Stealing Valuable Client Data and Trade Secrets ."

"The Manhattan Supreme Court suit filed Wednesday is the latest salvo fired in a dysfunctional family’s soap opera."

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The New York Post:   Family locked in bitter battle over Basquiat paintings . Related salvo, from last spring.
Sunday, January 20, 2019

"The text messages suggest a wider gulf in which Mr. Indiana may not have been fully aware of the art being designed under his name."

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NYT:   Private text messages entered as evidence in a legal dispute raise new questions about whether the artist fully designed his final wo...
Saturday, January 19, 2019

"An artist resale royalty is fair in principle for all visual artists. It would also address lingering inequities born of racism and allow the families of artists excluded from the art market to be appropriately recompensed." (UPDATED)

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Maxwell Anderson had a recent piece in The Art Newspaper arguing in favor of resale royalty legislation, which he says "is expected to...

"Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos. That’s a Problem for Video Game Developers."

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Another interesting story from around the holidays:  the New York Times reports on a series of lawsuits against sports video game makers by...

The Kendrick Lamar infringement lawsuit also settled over the holidays

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Story here .  The artist who sued him had won an important summary judgment victory in October.

"[B]ut didn't it all work out in the end?"

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Still catching up on some year-end reading, and came across this, from Michael Hiltzik's list of the 10 best books he read in 2018, one...
Sunday, January 13, 2019

"The divorce also threatens to expose the private dealings of one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the art world. Mr. Mugrabi, 47, is the scion of a powerful art-dealing family that is reportedly worth $5 billion and owns some 1,000 works by Warhol, making it the world’s largest private holding."

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The New York Times on Libbie and David Mugrabi's divorce .

"[A]s long as dealers who show a lot of women artists pay those artists i am good with the dealer cheating on her taxes. It’s a wee bit bad-ass too. But you want ‘em to pay taxes, cool by me. She has to now. You win." (UPDATED)

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Tweets Jerry Saltz, who was one of many " prominent art world figures " who wrote letters to the sentencing Judge on Mary Boone...
Saturday, January 12, 2019

"He is very proud of his work, which he is excellent at."

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The New Yorker:  The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation's Biggest Art Heist . Background on the man the French press dubbed ...

Another Shagalov Lawsuit

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In this one he is suing Paul Kasmin Gallery for $8.5 million. Previous Shagalov lawsuits discussed here .

"The exhibition will be accompanied by a symposium exploring strategies 'to torpedo the art market while simultaneously giving it new momentum,' according to a museum statement."

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The Art Newspaper:  German museum to show shredded Banksy work . Background here on the shredded Banksy work, which, oddly enough, did no...

"No one should ever be running in an art gallery."

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artnet News:   Thieves Make Off With a Painting From New York’s Team Gallery in Broad Daylight After a Half-Mile Chase .

"The question here is really an unlitigated question, which is what is the minimum quantum necessary for a choreographic work?"

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The New York Times on the spate of lawsuits against video game makers for their use of popular dance moves within the games.
Wednesday, January 09, 2019

"Christie’s Sale of Francis Bacon Painting Draws Suits"

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The work had been pledged as collateral for a $4.9 million loan. Details here .  Felix Salmon declares the suit "BONKERS."

"Mary Boone, Art Dealer, Cites Early Trauma in Bid to Avoid Prison" (UPDATED)

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New York Time story here .  She plead guilty in September to tax fraud.  Sentencing is scheduled for later this month. UPDATE:  Prosecutor...
Sunday, December 16, 2018

"Legal tips for art lovers"

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I'm quoted in this piece by Martha Lufkin in The Art Newspaper.
Saturday, December 15, 2018

How a charming art dealer became a wanted fraudster

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On the Chowaiki saga .  Background here .

Recognize this practice for what it is

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I've basically been arguing here for a decade now that there can be two coherent theories on deaccessioning. You can think it's al...
Saturday, December 08, 2018

Settlement in the Anish Kapoor-N.R.A. Lawsuit

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Story here .  Background here .  Kapoor declares victory.  On the other side, the N.R.A. says the suit was "baseless" but that ...
Monday, December 03, 2018

Attorney Fee Award in California Resale Royalty Lawsuit

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Opinion here .  Brief tweet-summary here .  Background here .
Saturday, December 01, 2018

"It almost sounded too good to be true: a Picasso painting stolen in one of the world’s most famous art heists had been found under a tree in a snowy Romanian forest."

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" On Monday it emerged it was totally too good to be true, part of an elaborate and carefully staged piece of performance art by a radi...

MoMaCha is now MaMaCha

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MoMA had obtained a preliminary injunction in October.  Story here .  Background here .

"Graffiti Artists are Gaining Recognition—and Rights"

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Good overview of recent developments from Bennington's K.E. Gover.  An excerpt: "Unlike traditional forms of visual art, aero...

Have the Washington Principles been a failure?

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Noah Charney thinks they have.

Hail Fredonia?

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SUNY Fredonia sold a painting by the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani for $2.3 million at Sotheby's London this week. Question:  was t...

"People thought maybe I was rash and should put it down to one of life’s rich experiences. But people defrauding other people, especially in the art market, should not be allowed to get away with it."

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Andy Hall won his fraud trial against a former college professor and her son who sold him a series of paintings they claimed were by Leon Go...

"An Artist Bought a Banksy Piece Just So He Could Destroy It"

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Story here .  He paid $730,000 for it and says he plans to whitewash it … and then sell it for a million dollars. Banksy can invoke VARA t...
Saturday, November 03, 2018

"If the number and relevance of galleries were to decline, how might this affect artistic content?"

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Tyler Cowen has some hypotheses and, like all his hypotheses, they're worth considering.

"A Cunning Husband-and-Wife Duo Sold Hundreds of Forged Artworks in Finland."

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" Now, They Are Headed to Prison ."

Answer: yes

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The Nation:  Can You Copyright a Quilt?

Tell me again about the public trust (one museum's 19th century photo sale seems to be the Met's gain edition)

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The Times reports on a sale of a group of Carleton Watkins photographs by the Hispanic Society in New York to an "unknown donor" ...
Saturday, October 27, 2018

"Engelmayer found that it was too early to say whether or not Viktor would be able to prove in a non-speculative fashion that the use of her work had influenced sales of the single and album, because the discovery process is still ongoing in the case."

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Artist Lina Iris Viktor survives a motion for summary judgment on a key damages issue in her infringement suit against Kendrick Lamar.  You...

"Terms of the agreement between the estate and the studio were not immediately made available."

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A settlement in the Ana Mendieta-Suspiria lawsuit. Nailed this one .
Saturday, October 20, 2018

Tell me again about the public trust (three paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe edition)

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Because they are assuredly not held in the public trust, to be accessible to present and future generations, the three paintings, by Georg...

"Gagosian filed a motion to dismiss in the New York State Supreme Court, asserting that Tananbaum is a 'highly sophisticated art collector' who is aware of Koons’s reputation as 'a perfectionist who often takes years' to make his sculptures."

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Story here . This is the one with the ouroboros .

"This really was not a good fraud. They clearly did not think this all the way through."

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AP :  "A fine art consultant in New York and an interior designer in Florida stole an elderly woman’s identity and used it to bid milli...

"These memorandums make some good arguments, explaining why fair use favors his uses and why he did not make significant alterations to the Instagram photos. Whether the district court agrees with these arguments is another story."

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Krista Cox at Above the Law on the latest developments in the ongoing Richard Prince lawsuit.

"The Legal Implications of Banksy's Destruction of 'Girl with Balloon'"

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From Sheppard Mullin . The bottom line:  "Since the art work was damaged while under the possession of Sotheby’s, under the UCC, it i...
Friday, October 12, 2018

"In two cases testing copyright law in social media, the artist Richard Prince is asking a federal court in Manhattan to rule that two of his Instagram-based works constitute fair use of photographs taken by others."

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Laura Gilbert has the story in The Art Newspaper: "Last year a US District Court judge rejected Prince’s motion to dismiss Graham’s...
Thursday, October 04, 2018

"Rybolovlev’s companies sued Sotheby’s Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, alleging that the auction house 'materially assisted the largest art fraud in history.'"

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Bloomberg :  Billionaire Slaps Sotheby's With $380 Million Lawsuit. Some background here .
Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Last Berkshire Museum Appeal Rejected

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On standing grounds.  Story here .  Some background here .
Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Preliminary injunction granted in MoMA trademark suit (UPDATED)

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Against a tea place called MoMaCha.  Story here .   Background here . UPDATE:  More from the New York Times.
Monday, October 01, 2018

"Amazon Sued Over Use of Artist’s Work in ‘Suspiria’"

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The artist is Ana Mendieta; Suspiria is the new movie by Luca Guadagnino (who directed last year's Call Me By Your Name ), a remake of ...

Summary Judgment Denied in the G.M. Graffiti Lawsuit

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Story (and copy of the decision) here .  As mentioned here , G.M. had argued that there couldn't be infringement because the graffiti wa...

"I have been introducing the ART Act since 2011 and I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan, bicameral version of the legislation this congress"

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The American Royalties Too Act is being reintroduced .  I'm not a fan of the Act (for reasons mentioned here ), but there is a version o...

"Ms. Abramovic was leaving a book signing at the Palazzo Strozzi, in Florence, which is hosting Italy’s first major retrospective of her art, when a man slammed a paper portrait he had made of Ms. Abramovic over her head."

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NY Times story here .  Abramovic says she was stunned but unhurt and has not pressed charges.

"Ezra Chowaiki was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Manhattan to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for defrauding art dealers and collectors of millions of dollars."

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" He was also ordered to give up his interest in more than 20 works of art involved in the fraud, including pieces by Picasso and Alexa...

"We didn’t feel the decision was the correct one. The nature of graffiti in itself is to paint over itself constantly, and [the artists] made reference to that and it’s what happened over the 27 odd years.”

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Appeal filed in the 5Pointz VARA case .
Saturday, September 22, 2018

"One focal point of the debate has been 'BRAT,' a huge sculpture said to have been Indiana’s last monumental work, designed not as a homage to an ethereal concept like Mr. Indiana’s 'LOVE' or 'HOPE,' but to the humble bratwurst."

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NYT :  "Just how much control did the artist Robert Indiana have over his work during the last years of his life?"
Saturday, September 15, 2018

"Defamation lawsuit over alleged fake Western painting tossed"

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The case was brought by dealer Gerald Peters.  Story here .  Background here .

"The agreement states that the art and the cash gift must be returned if the Corcoran 'has not complied with the conditions.'"

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A donor intent case involving a gift to the Corcoran.

"As part of the settlement, the company agreed to fund a number of Detroit art institutions and charities"

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A settlement in the H&M street art lawsuit (mentioned earlier here ).  H&M should have read this before their ad campaign.

Step One: Don't infringe graffiti copyrights

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IP Watchdog:   Preventing a Graffiti Copyright Infringement Lawsuit .

"Artist Plans to Sue Property Owner Who Painted Over Chicano Mural in San Jose’s East Side"

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Next up on the VARA docket.

"I said, ‘Well you could destroy it, you could sell it, I can send it your other gallery.'" (UPDATED)

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Artnet:   Artist Hank Willis Thomas Pulls Work From a South African Art Fair After a Photographer Levels Plagiarism Charges . UPDATE:  Bri...
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Headline of the Day

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Museum Boss Fears Philly Insect Heist Was an Inside Job .
Wednesday, August 29, 2018

VARA Dismissal Affirmed

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The Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of the VARA suit over the removal of a sculpture from Trinity Church in downtown Manhattan. ...
Thursday, August 23, 2018

Due Process

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An exhibition and related events , curated by Alexandra Perloff-Giles.
Thursday, August 09, 2018

"So here’s the upshot: in a resale royalties scheme, 99% of artists will likely lose, so that the top 1% can win. This reverse-Robin Hood story is not some bug in the system -- it is its main feature."

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Chris Sprigman and Guy Rub make the case against resale royalties for artists: "We collected data representing all sales at public a...
Monday, August 06, 2018

The Times had a critical piece yesterday on donor-advised funds ...

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... which are commonly used in the art world.  The story is here . Harvard's Greg Mankiw (convincingly) finds it "unconvincing...
Sunday, August 05, 2018

"Split decision in lawsuit over forged paintings sold by ex-Franklin Pierce professor and her son"

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Story here : "In a detailed ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe dismissed the warranty claim Hall had brought, conclud...

"Adrian Ellis has offered what I think is one of the best ways to address the deaccessioning dilemma."

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Museum consultant Bob Beatty has a piece up at Hyperallergic on "the deaccessioning debate in museums."  As evidenced by his appr...

"How Robert Indiana’s Caretaker Came to Control His Artistic Legacy"

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NYT story here .  Background here .

"Decision should put decade-long legal battle between museum and heirs of art dealer Jacques Goudstikker 'to rest'"

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The Norton Simon-Von Saher litigation, which I wrote about for the Journal of Art Crime all the way back in 2010 , appears to finally be o...
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

"G.M. Used Graffiti in a Car Ad. Should the Artist Be Paid?"

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The New York Times reports : "Mr. Falkner’s case is set to turn on another unsettled question of copyright law. Last month, lawyers f...
Saturday, July 14, 2018

"A new criminal case was recently opened in Geneva after a fraud complaint was filed in late 2015 by an unnamed industrialist from the Baltic region, who has accused an art dealer of overcharging for works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Alberto Giacometti."

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" This may sound like a familiar story, but it has nothing to do with the battle between Yves Bouvier and Dmitry Rybolovlev. "

"Monterey’s Dalí17, which displays the 500-work private collection of the Ukrainian-born real estate developer Dimitry Piterman, features the Surrealist’s face—complete with upturned moustache—on its logo."

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The Art Newspaper:  Dalí foundation sues California museum for use of artist’s name and image . Brandon Butler tweets :  "This lawsui...

"Now Ms. Columbus, 43, has filed a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, asserting the museum discriminated against her in violation of the city’s laws on caregivers, pregnancy and women’s rights."

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NYT:  Curator Says MoMA PS1 Wanted Her, Until She Had a Baby . Paddy Johnson comments here .

"The Wayfair decision looks like a sales tax game-changer for many New York galleries."

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Says Tom Danziger in this artnet piece on a recent Supreme Court decision involving the power of states to require out-of-state sellers to ...

"Having determined that the face of plaintiff’s sculpture is distinct, original, and protected, we find that defendant’s use was infringing."

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Here's an interesting one:  the US Postal Service owes an artist $3.5 million for using what they thought was a photo of the Statue of ...

Berkshire Update

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At the Center for Art Law, Jennie Nadel has a good summary of where things stand. The Berkshire Eagle says a " new era " for th...

More on the California Resale Royalty Decision

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Lots of coverage over the last week.  Nicholas O'Donnell has a very good, comprehensive overview of the twists and turns the case has t...
Friday, July 06, 2018

"Our decision today means the CRRA had a short effective life."

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BREAKING:  Ninth Circuit rules that the California resale royalty law is preempted by the 1976 Copyright Act (so -- at most -- the plaintif...