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Associate Maria Angela Brusco Shares Insights From Art Law Institute’s Panel Discussion About Promised Gifts
11/10/2023
Grossman LLP associate Maria Angela Brusco recently spoke on a panel at the Art Law Institute of the New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA), focusing on the legal implications of collectors’ promises to make gifts of artworks in the future. Below, she summarizes some key insights from the event.
ATTORNEY: Maria Angela Brusco
CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Art Market, Fine Art, Legal Developments, Museums, Contracts, Grossman LLP -
Parties Dispute The Terms Of An Art Insurance Policy
In Litigation Over Destroyed Monets10/12/2023In June of 2022, on the shore of Lake Michigan, a fire destroyed the lake house of hedge fund founder Matthew Halbower and his wife Julie. Now, in a lawsuit pending in federal court, the family’s trust seeks an insurance payout for several valuable artworks destroyed in the fire, including four Monet paintings. The case highlights the complexity of insurance disputes involving fine art.
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Grossman LLP Secures Complete Dismissal of Counterclaims in Forgery Case
10/10/2023
The Grossman team has won a total victory dismissing all counterclaims in our suit on behalf of a prominent art collector against an art gallery for refusing to rescind a sale of paintings that turned out to be forgeries.
ATTORNEYS: Judd B. Grossman, Kate Lucas, Maria Angela Brusco
CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Authentication, Forgeries, Legal Developments, Provenance, Firm Update, Grossman LLP -
AI-Generated Artwork Ruled Ineligible for Copyright Due to Lack of Human Authorship
09/05/2023
The evolution and rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (“AI”) is transforming many industries, but courts are just starting to examine how AI interacts with existing copyright law governing artistic works. In a groundbreaking new case handed down this summer, a federal court has now ruled that an artwork wholly generated by AI is ineligible for copyright protection.
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The Tale of the Art World's Most Famous Banana Continues:
Citing Lack of Substantial Similarity, Court Rejects Infringement Claims Against Cattelan08/07/2023Artist Maurizio Cattelan arguably created the most talked-about work at Art Basel Miami in 2019. But in 2020, fellow visual and conceptual artist Joe Morford sued Cattelan for copyright infringement, alleging that Cattelan’s work, Comedian—which consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall—unfairly copies one of Morford’s creations, a piece titled Banana and Orange. This summer, a Florida federal court rejected Morford’s claims, holding on summary judgment that the two works are not “substantially similar” enough to support an infringement claim.
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Lawsuit Against Fashion Brand Shein
Alleges Massive Copyright Infringement Scheme07/27/2023Three visual artists have sued the ultra-fast-fashion behemoth Shein for copyright infringement, alleging that Shein operates a wide-ranging scheme that relies on artificial intelligence, deliberate copyright infringement, and a hope that none of the artists will notice.
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On Summary Judgment, Court Rejects Richard Prince’s Fair Use Defense
Against Copyright Claims By Photographers07/20/2023Two copyright lawsuits against appropriation artist Richard Prince arising out of his controversial “New Portraits” artworks have cleared a major hurdle—summary judgment—and appear to be headed for trial. In a decision issued in May (just days before the Supreme Court issued its Warhol ruling), a federal judge rejected Prince’s fair use defense.
ATTORNEY: Kate Lucas
CATEGORIES : Art Exhibitions, Art Galleries, Art Market, Copyright, Fair Use, Richard Prince -
Supreme Court Sides With Photographer In Warhol-Goldsmith Case;
What Does The Decision Mean For Art Law?06/12/2023In late May, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the case of Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith. The case sought to provide clarity on the thorny concept of “fair use” in copyright law. In particular, it focused on how courts should evaluate the “purpose and character” of an artist’s use of someone else’s creations, and the role of “transformativity” in that evaluation. The resulting decision is, in some ways, limited in scope, but in other respects, it raises new questions for artists who borrow from the work of others.
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Grossman LLP Obtains Summary Judgment on Behalf of Lender Against Former Hedge-Fund Billionaire
05/25/2023
Grossman LLP has secured summary judgment dismissing a former hedge-fund billionaire’s claims that our client issued a usurious loan.
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Bored Ape Creators Prevail In Trademark Litigation
Against Artists Who Launched NFTs “Appropriating” the Apes05/03/2023Earlier this year, we wrote about some of the NFT-related litigation working its way through courts around the country. Recently, one of those cases culminated in a substantial win for Yuga Labs, creator of the famous “Bored Ape Yacht Club” NFT collection.
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Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Fraud Claim
Over Inauthentic Bonnard Painting04/26/2023The Second Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a fraud claim by a buyer who bought an artwork in 1985 and had it appraised on several occasions beginning in 2007, but did not sue until after the work was deemed inauthentic in 2018. The case focused on the work’s exclusion from the artist’s catalogue raisonné; the appraisals all expressly noted that the work’s authenticity was only “assumed” because the painting was not in the artist’s catalogue. The court reasoned that in light of such a disclaimer, a reasonable person should have further investigated its authenticity, and therefore the fraud claim’s two-year statute of limitations began to run at that time.
ATTORNEY: Maria Angela Brusco
CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Art Market, Authentication, Fine Art, Legal Developments -
Grossman LLP Obtains Complete Recovery In Contract Dispute Involving the Urgent Manufacture of Medical Gowns in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic
04/24/2023
Grossman LLP has secured a $1.18 million recovery—every dollar of damages sought—following a hard-fought breach-of-contract dispute on behalf of a leading apparel manufacturer hired to produce gowns in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Claims Against Sotheby’s In Connection With Rybolovlev-Bouvier Feud Will Proceed To Trial
03/15/2023
For years now, we’ve been following the legal fallout resulting from a rancorous dispute between Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and his onetime art dealer, Swiss businessman Yves Bouvier. The feud has resulted in legal proceedings in multiple countries, and other art world players have become entangled in the fray as well. In one of those spinoff disputes, Rybolovlev has sued auction house Sotheby’s, alleging that it aided Bouvier’s machinations. Earlier this month, a federal court rejected a number of those claims, but other claims will proceed to trial unless the parties can reach a settlement in an upcoming mediation.
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Grossman LLP Obtains $8 Million Judgment in Securities Fraud Case Arising from Ticket-Resale Ponzi Scheme
03/03/2023
A Grossman LLP trial team led by Judd Grossman and Webster McBride secured a nearly $8 million securities-fraud judgment in a case arising from a Ponzi scheme involving the resale of tickets to high-profile events such as the Broadway musical "Hamilton."
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Jury Returns Verdict for Hermès In Trademark Dispute Over MetaBirkins NFTs
02/09/2023
On February 8, just two days after we published our last post, the jury in the MetaBirkins case reached a verdict, awarding Hermès $133,000 in damages in connection with the fashion house’s claims of trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting.
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NFTs In the Courtroom: A Look At Some Recent NFT-Related Litigation
02/06/2023
Almost two years ago, we shared some thoughts about the NFT market, how it might interact with the traditional art market, and what questions and issues it might raise as it develops. Now, we are watching with interest as an early wave of NFT-related litigation begins to make its way through the courts. In this update, we explore some of the legal disputes that are applying established law to this new context, and raising novel questions for courts to decide.
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Two New Lawsuits Filed Against Major Museums
Over Works Lost During Nazi-Era Persecution01/30/2023In recent weeks, the families of two different victims of Nazi persecution have filed suit in federal court, each suing a major museum over artwork taken from their ancestors during the Nazi era. These cases continue to raise complex legal questions about the painful legacy of a brutal regime and its massive displacement of art throughout Europe during the years before, during, and after World War II.
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Grossman LLP Secures Total Victory In Second Circuit Appeal
Involving Recovery of Stolen Painting01/03/2023In late 2020, after two-plus years of litigation in multiple jurisdictions and a three-day bench trial in the Southern District of New York, Grossman LLP obtained a win in a title dispute over a painting that was stolen from a major corporate art collection decades ago and replaced with a skilled forgery. Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that victory.CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Forgeries, Legal Developments, Firm Update, Stolen Artwork, Grossman LLP -
As AI-Generated Art Proliferates, So Do Legal Questions
12/08/2022
In the last few years, aided by the rise of non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”), digital art has become an increasingly important part of the art market. Now a new frontier seems to be opening up: art that is created at least in part using artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology. Indeed, just as NFTs have crossed into the traditional art market, artists who are creating using AI are likewise being welcomed onto the art scene (for example, by gaining gallery representation). As this trend unfolds, we art lawyers find ourselves wondering how AI art will interact with our current copyright system.
ATTORNEY: Kate Lucas
CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Art Market, Copyright, Fair Use, Legal Developments -
House Fire Spawns $410 Million Insurance Coverage Dispute
Over Five Major Artworks From Billionaire’s Collection11/08/2022Art is increasingly viewed as an investment asset, and in some ways, it behaves like one. But any investment in art also has to take into account the real risk of physical damage and the legal headaches that can arise out of such damage—as one recent lawsuit reminds us.
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