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
For those who believe that one today is worth two tomorrows, prejudgment interest offers a significant judicial remedy. In an unprecedented holding on July 12, 2021, the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court, County of New York, applied the prejudgment rule in favor of the rightful owners
Continue Reading UPDATE—New York Court Awards Statutory Prejudgment Interest to Grünbaum Estate’s Heirs