For the fourth year running, the Chambers High Net Worth guide, which focuses on the private wealth sector, recognized HHR as one of the nation’s leading law firms for Art and Cultural Property Law. Chambers ranked HHR’s
Continue Reading Hughes Hubbard’s Art Practice Recognized by Chambers for Fourth Straight Year
A September 27, 2023 decision by a Manhattan trial court, Aicon Art LLC v. Aicon Contemporary LLC, No. 650580/2023, 2023 N.Y. Slip. Op. 33340(U) (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Sept. 27, 2023), involving a dispute between two businesses located in the same art gallery, serves as a reminder to New York
Continue Reading Aicon Art LLC v. Aicon Contemporary LLC: A Reminder About the Importance of Knowing Who the Client Is
They’re apples and oranges. That’s the message, at least, that U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr. sent on June 9, 2023 by granting Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s motion for summary judgment in a copyright lawsuit fellow artist Joseph Morford brought against him in the Southern District of Florida.[1]
Continue Reading Apples and Oranges: District Court Grants Maurizio Cattelan’s Summary Judgment Motion in Copyright Claim Against His Art Basel Banana
A pair of copyright decisions issued in May, one involving the appropriation artist Richard Prince[1] and the other involving works portraying the musician known as Prince, explore and expand on the “fair use” defense to copyright infringement. On May 11, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
Continue Reading Fair Use: Graham v. Prince and Warhol v. Goldsmith
While 2022 held several lessons for art market participants – from NFTs to Treasury regulations – the end of the year brought a reminder particularly for antiquities collectors of the need to carefully consider the provenance and history of objects in their collections. According to a recent New York Times article
Continue Reading The Return of Looted Art: Warnings from 2022
The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. in March 2020 forced performance venues, auction houses and event spaces to cancel events, depriving artists and venues of thousands, and in some cases, millions of dollars. When the inevitable lawsuits ensued, and plaintiffs demanded compensation for non-performance of their
Continue Reading Courts on Both Coasts Find that the COVID-19 Pandemic Falls Within “Force Majeure” Clauses
During Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2019, Italian artist and provocateur Maurizio Cattelan[1] duct-taped a banana onto a white wall. Within hours, his work, Comedian, sold for $120,000, went viral, and became that year’s perhaps most discussed artwork.[2] On January 4, 2021, pro se plaintiff Joe
Continue Reading Copyright Goes Bananas: District Court Rejects Maurizio Cattelan’s Motion to Dismiss Copyright Claim Against His Taped Banana
On February 4, 2022, the Treasury Department published its Study on the Facilitation of Money Laundering and Terror Finance Through the Trade in Works of Art (the “Report”).[1] To the surprise of many and the relief of the U.S. art market, the Report concluded that there was no immediate
Continue Reading U.S. Treasury Study Rejects Immediate Need for New Regulation of Art Market
As previously reported on this blog, non-fungible tokens (or “NFTs”) recently emerged as one of the hottest new items on the art market—artists, auction houses, museums, sports organizations and others have jumped at the chance to create and sell their own versions of these unique tokens. But even as
Continue Reading NFT Update: 5 Recent Lawsuits Show a Glimpse into Future Legal Battles Involving NFTs
We recently reported on the Warhol Foundation’s petition to the United States Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit’s decision in Andy Warhol Found. for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, 11 F.4th 26 (2d Cir. 2021). On March 28, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari, which means the Court
Continue Reading SCOTUS Update: U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Warhol v. Goldsmith Copyright Case Next Term
As many know by now, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) are unique units of data stored on a blockchain that have become an increasingly popular way to buy and sell artwork (as well as all kinds of other things). Although NFTs have existed since around 2014, the NFT market exploded last year,
Continue Reading Taking the “Fun” Out of Non-Fungible Tokens: Could Securities Laws Apply to NFTs?