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?
In a controversial decision in March 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a 1984 series of silkscreen paintings by the pop artist Andy Warhol depicting the musical legend Prince (the “Prince Series”)—based on a 1981 photograph of Prince by Lynn Goldsmith (the “Prince
Continue Reading Prince, Prince, Prints: Will the Supreme Court Revisit Fair Use?
On June 8, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in Beierwaltes v. Federal Office of Culture of the Swiss Confederation that the temporary seizure in Geneva of antiquities belonging to Colorado-based art collectors conducted by Swiss authorities, as part of a Swiss police investigation,
Continue Reading Swiss Miss: The Second Circuit Rejects Application of Expropriation Exception to Seizure of Antiquities by Swiss Law Enforcement Officers