Copyright Law

"Bartering may be the answer to bail us out of our current crisis"

Posted on August 25, 2009
Lindsay Pollock points to a "no money art show" this weekend in Chelsea -- Art4Barter. The press release explains: "No works shall be sold for money but rather for services and goods. The exact service or good that the artist requires will be on the label next to their art...

Rose Update

Posted on August 25, 2009
Brandeis student newspaper The Justice has more on the transfer earlier this month of the Rose lawsuit from the Massachusetts Supreme Court to the (less supreme) probate court.The University's lawyer, former Massachusetts AG Thomas Reilly, is quoted as saying:"The Rose Art Museum is open...

Barnes Doc

Posted on August 24, 2009
This year's New York Film Festival lineup includes The Art of the Steal: "Bound to be controversial, this thought-provoking documentary explores the travails of the legendary Barnes collection of art masterworks and the foundation set up to protect it [and] raises vital questions about public vs...

The Stealth Brodsky Bill

Posted on August 21, 2009
Lee Rosenbaum reports that the NY State Board of Regents has released its Proposed Permanent Amendment to its deaccessioning rules. Lee summarizes:"This amendment ... would prohibit use of deaccession proceeds for operating expenses, payment of outstanding debt, or capital expenses (other than those for historic buildings designated as part of an institution's collection)...

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Dealer Defamation Suit

Posted on August 21, 2009
Private dealer Paul Rusconi is suing actress Claire Forlani for defamation: "On July 27 of this year, Forlani allegedly ... sent out a mass email claiming Rusconi was selling art work that he knew had been forged 'and that he routinely defrauded his clients by vastly overcharging for the works he sold to them...

As old as the Eden tree

Posted on August 21, 2009
Lots of stories about fakes in the news lately.Derek Fincham points to a story in ARTnews "on the slew of Russian avant-garde paintings which were alleged to be fake." One expert is quoted as saying: "There are more fakes than genuine pictures."Fom the AP: "German police have confiscated hundreds of bronze and plaster statues alleged to be the works of Alberto Giacometti and arrested an art dealer and two others on suspicion of selling the fakes across the globe...

"A large number of art attackers appear to be several sandwiches short of the full picnic"

Posted on August 21, 2009
Inspired by "the recent assault on the Mona Lisa with the unlikely weapon of a teacup," Bloomberg's Martin Gayford asks: "Why do people attack art?"On some legal issues surrounding art vandalism, see here.

"The case is still something of a mystery"

Posted on August 21, 2009
Soon-to-be movie-star Richard Lacayo on the 98th anniversary of The Great Mona Lisa Heist.

No Less Than Three

Posted on August 20, 2009
Artnet News notes that Josh Baer might have to start a new newsletter devoted just to legal news:"His Aug. 18 issue, for instance, featured items on no less than three legal actions: a dispute involving Gateway Computer founder Norman Waitt over some paintings he acquired from Gerald Peters Gallery; a lawsuit by Moscow dealer Gary Tatintsian against Luhring Augustine Gallery over the sale of a dozen George Condo paintings for $4...

"How could this happen to Annie Leibovitz?"

Posted on August 19, 2009
The Atlantic Wire has a roundup of commentary on the Annie Leibovitz mess.

Live With It

Posted on August 19, 2009
"An art collector claims that in the course of spending $10 million with the Gerald Peters Gallery, they developed a deal in which he could 'live with' art for a while to decide if he wanted to keep it, and if not, he could return it for a refund or 'art of equivalent value...

Stolen Art Database

Posted on August 18, 2009
Derek Fincham notes that INTERPOL is putting its stolen art database online. Says Derek: "This is a remarkable development in a number of ways, and makes it possible for anyone to search. This means it will be far more difficult for a buyer to claim he or she did not have the resources to check into a work's history...

Leibovitz Update

Posted on August 18, 2009
This week's New York magazine has a lengthy story on Annie Leibovitz's legal troubles. Felix Salmon says "Art Capital did not ... simply have $24 million lying around when it extended the loan to Leibovitz. As a result, it sold part of the loan to other investors, including Goldman Sachs...

"Where do you draw the line between critique or parody and outright exploitation?"

Posted on August 16, 2009
In the NYT Week in Review section today, Charles McGrath discusses the legal issues surrounding literary prequels and sequels, including the Salinger case currently on appeal to the Second Circuit:"Mr. Salinger, who is 90 and went all the way to the United States Supreme Court in the late 1980s to stop the biographer Ian Hamilton from quoting from his work, has just won another legal battle, halting the publication of '60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,' a sequel to 'The Catcher in the Rye,' by Fredrik Colting, a Swede who for some reason writes under the name J...

"The dispute raises questions about the obligation of a state government with finite resources to uphold the artistic vision of a public memorial"

Posted on August 16, 2009
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento spots a threatened VARA suit in Washington State involving a World War II memorial sculpture. According to a local news report, artist Simon Kogan "says that overaggressive cleaning in May 2007 damaged the memorial .... He has demanded that the state agency fix the damage or he will sue...

Roerich Return

Posted on August 15, 2009
Art Theft Central's Mark Durney breaks the news that one of the two works recently stolen from the Nicholas Roerich Museum was returned, in an "ordinary yellow, padded envelope, with a Brooklyn return address."

Lloyd Webber Dismissal Affirmed

Posted on August 15, 2009
The Appellate Division has affirmed the dismissal, on standing grounds, of a lawsuit against the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation by a man who claimed his great-uncle was forced by the Nazis to sell a Picasso painting now owned by the foundation. I discussed the lower court decision here...

"Once again, he insisted he favors limiting charitable deductions for high earners, but admitted Congress opposes it."

Posted on August 13, 2009
Joan Walsh at Salon.com.

Still More on the Roerich Thefts

Posted on August 11, 2009
From Art Theft Central's Mark Durney here and here: "Why are the police only publicizing the thefts now? Also, if the museum receives only approximately 35 visitors a day, then have investigators attempted to track who visited on Wednesday, June 24 and Sunday, June 28?"Background here.

Arts Programming Cuts

Posted on August 11, 2009
The top story in the NYT Arts section today tells how "tens of thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses and teachers missing ? victims of piercing budget cuts ? when they descend on campuses this month and next...

Fractional Gift News

Posted on August 11, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports that "reacting to museums' complaints of sharp declines in art donations, a bill announced Friday by Sen. Charles Schumer ... could revive the practice of so-called fractional gifts."Some brief background is probably in order...

Not Off To A Great Start

Posted on August 07, 2009
The Boston Herald reports that "the [Massachusetts] Supreme Judicial Court won?t hear the lawsuit filed by three top Rose Art Museum patrons against Brandeis University .... The SJC transferred the case to the Suffolk probate court."

"We were always more oriented toward prevention"

Posted on August 07, 2009
More from the NYT on the Roerich Museum thefts. Derek Fincham says "such a small museum is a good target for art thieves as it may not have sophisticated security systems, and limited visitors who may notice a theft."

"How does any of this jibe with the penchant for the public?s access and right to art?"

Posted on August 05, 2009
The Art Market Monitor: De-accessioning Double Standard.

Is art theft the third-largest criminal enterprise?

Posted on August 05, 2009
Derek Fincham considers the question here.

"If someone steals your car you can go get another one, but with a painting you can't replace it"

Posted on August 05, 2009
From the New York Post: "Brazen art thieves swiped two Russian masterpieces right off the walls of an Upper West Side museum in separate heists that police are finding as hard to decipher as an abstract painting. A cop who happened to be visiting the museum was the first to notice a work was missing from the Nicholas Roerich Museum on West 107th Street near Riverside Drive...

Another Museum Embezzlement

Posted on August 05, 2009
This time by a bookkeeper for the Tucson Museum of Art, to the tune of $975,000 over five-years. Previous museum-embezzlement stories here, here, here, and here.

"We imagine that the first hurdle the three plaintiffs will face is a challenge by Brandeis University to their standing"

Posted on August 05, 2009
The Charity Governance Blog's Jack Siegel on the recently filed Rose lawsuit:"Under general principles of charity law, the [plaintiffs] probably lack standing: Donors lack standing. ... The donors may ... be able to argue special interest standing, but the Massachusetts Attorney General is aware of and, according to the plaintiffs' own pleadings, has been involved in the dispute...

"These books seem to cover everything an art professional might need to know"

Posted on August 05, 2009
In The L Magazine, Paddy Johnson reviews Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber?s Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career and Jackie Battenfield?s The Artist?s Guide. I mentioned the former before here.

More on the Bull Suit

Posted on August 04, 2009
Nick Obourn: "The irony behind this, of course, is if Random House loses the lawsuit, the title of the book (A Colossal Failure of Common Sense) will have a deeply regretful double meaning."

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