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The Ninth Circuit has pending before it a significant challenge to the validity of the California Resale Royalty Act (“CRRA”), which will require the court to examine the scope of the “first sale doctrine” and determine whether it is at odds with California’s attempt to establish economic rights for visual artists on subsequent sales of their works.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Cases Pose the Question: How Far Does the “First Sale Doctrine” Go?
On July 11, 2017, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP hosted a brown-bag lunch on the business and law of auction houses. The Fine Arts Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section sponsored the event.
The lunch’s panel included Sherri Cohen, Director of Trusts
Continue Reading Hughes Hubbard & Reed Hosts Brown-Bag Lunch on Auction Houses
Two recent developments promise to shed more light on the legal status of unauthorized street art, which we explored earlier this year in our post Unchartered Territory: Enforcing an Artist’s Rights in Street Art.
Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P., No. 13CV05612, 2017 WL 1208416 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2017).
Continue Reading Update: Enforcing an Artist’s Rights in Street Art
The short answer is yes.1 Nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt status should not lose that status if, in furtherance of their exempt purpose, they speak out about issues affecting their constituents and the communities they serve. While nonprofit organizations are absolutely barred from political campaigning, if the actions fall
Continue Reading Can a Tax-Exempt Arts Organization Take a Political Position?
A newly enacted federal statute is intended to facilitate loans of art to U.S. museums from government-owned museums abroad, by protecting the art from private claimants while in the U.S. In recent years, fear that a U.S. court might order the seizure of artworks loaned to a U.S. museum for
Continue Reading Newly Enacted U.S. Statute Protects Foreign Museums from Art Seizures
As street art – typically painting or drawing on someone else’s wall – grows in status in art circles,1 street artists are finding that their work is increasingly being exploited without their permission. While a number of these artists have attempted to assert copyright2 or Visual Artists Rights
Continue Reading Unchartered Territory: Enforcing an Artist’s Rights in Street Art
The lawsuit1 recently filed by the Mayor Gallery against the authors and sponsors of the Agnes Martin catalogue raisonné illustrates the ongoing legal risks faced by scholars and other agents who volunteer to authenticate artworks.
Authenticators play a valuable role in the fine art market by providing assurance to
Continue Reading Proposed Amendments to Protect New York Art Authenticators Pending While Lawsuits Regarding Authentication Disputes Persist
On August 23, 2016, Judge Gary Feinerman of the Northern District of Illinois ruled in Fletcher v. Doig in favor of artist Peter Marryat Doig, finding that Doig did not create a painting owned by plaintiff Robert Fletcher.1
Plaintiffs, Fletcher and his gallerist Peter Bartlow, filed suit against
Continue Reading Judge Feinerman Finally Credits Doig’s Voice
An erroneous copying of a judicial opinion led the Seventh Circuit to reverse a decision about an erroneous copying of a portrait.
Jesus Muhammad‐Ali, the grandson of deceased Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, painted a portrait of the current leader, Louis Farrakhan, at his request. Ali registered a copyright
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Has the Last Word About The Final Call
Carol Highsmith, a renowned American photographer, has filed a lawsuit against Getty Images (“Getty”) and others for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).1 Specifically, Highsmith alleges that the three defendants – Getty and Alamy (companies that sell stock photos) and License Compliance Services (“LCS”) (a company that
Continue Reading Photographer Highsmith Takes On Getty Images for a Potential Billion-Dollar Payout