On July 31, 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office issued the first of several planned reports on the intersection between copyright and generative Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), following a lengthy period of public comment, during which it received more than 10,300 comments, discussed previously on this blog. Titled “Part 1: Digital Replicas,”
Continue Reading Copyright Office Issues First Report on Generative AISigrid Jernudd
Sigrid Jernudd is an associate in the New York office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, where she focuses on litigation and international arbitration. She has represented both domestic and international clients in a range of industries. She also has experience in antitrust matters.
U.S. Copyright Office Examines Copyright and Generative AI
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools—defined by the U.S. Copyright Office as technology that is “capable of producing outputs such as text, images, video, or audio (including emulating a human voice) that would be considered copyrightable if created by a human author”[1]—are trained by analyzing vast amounts of data…
Continue Reading U.S. Copyright Office Examines Copyright and Generative AIAicon Art LLC v. Aicon Contemporary LLC: A Reminder About the Importance of Knowing Who the Client Is
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 IsFair Use: Graham v. Prince and Warhol v. Goldsmith
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. GoldsmithThe Return of Looted Art: Warnings from 2022
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 2022Copyright Goes Bananas: District Court Rejects Maurizio Cattelan’s Motion to Dismiss Copyright Claim Against His Taped Banana
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
U.S. Treasury Study Rejects Immediate Need for New Regulation of Art Market
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…
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American Graffiti: Artist Moves to Protect Street Art Across New York City
On June 1, 2021, Michael McLeer, a New York City-based street artist who goes by “Kaves,” filed a putative class action in the Eastern District of New York against the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) and the City of New York.[1] McLeer alleges that the NYPD’s graffiti cleanup…
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Defendant Prevails on “Fair Use” of Embedded Instagram Post
On November 2, 2020, Judge Allyne Ross of the Eastern District of New York dismissed copyright claims brought by Danish photographer Michael Barrett Boesen against a sports website for its use of an Instagram post by former top-ranked tennis star Caroline Wozniacki that itself used a photograph by Boesen.[1]…
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OFAC Issues Advisory on Sanctions Risks in Dealing with High-Value Artwork
On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), which administers and enforces American economic sanctions, issued an advisory titled “Advisory and Guidance on Potential Sanctions Risks Arising from Dealings in High-Value Artwork” (the “Advisory”). OFAC considers “high-value” any artwork valued at over…
Continue Reading OFAC Issues Advisory on Sanctions Risks in Dealing with High-Value Artwork