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Grossman LLP Wins Summary Judgment In Dispute Over Chagall Painting Caught Up In Chowaiki Scandal
05/09/2022
In a major win, Grossman LLP has obtained summary judgment for our client in a long-running title dispute involving a Marc Chagall painting that was part of the fraudulent schemes of disgraced art dealer Ezra Chowaiki.
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Philbrick Case Sparks Discussion of Sentencing For Art Crimes
04/18/2022
The criminal case involving disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick has now progressed to the sentencing phase, where a judge will decide what punishment is appropriate for Philbrick. In the process, the court will likely consider larger questions about how the justice system should approach sentencing for art crimes, particularly in light of a string of high-profile art fraud prosecutions in recent years.
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UPDATE: Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Fair Use Case Involving Warhol’s Prince Artworks
03/29/2022
We wrote recently about the Warhol Foundation’s petition to the Supreme Court, asking the Court to review a case involving claims by photographer Lynn Goldsmith. Goldsmith sued over Warhol’s use of a photograph in creating a series of artworks, and the Foundation argued that Goldsmith’s claims should fail due to the fair use doctrine, which provides a defense to copyright infringement claims. A federal district court sided with the Foundation, but the Second Circuit reversed, and in the process issued an opinion that further complicated the already-complex landscape of fair use case law, especially as applied to artists whose creations incorporate, appropriate, reference, or otherwise make use of works by others.
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Jeff Koons Moves To Dismiss Suit By Sculptor Regarding Platform Used in Koons Exhibition
03/17/2022Famed artist Jeff Koons is no stranger to litigation; indeed, it might be argued that his litigation history is part of his artistic legacy. We’ve written before about his works, which frequently test the boundaries of copyright infringement and fair use (see here for one example) and his fabrication and sales practices which have also sparked dispute (see here). Now Koons is back in court as a defendant in a federal lawsuit by sculptor Michael Hayden over his reproduction of a Hayden creations in one of his famous “Made In Heaven” artworks. The case promises to raise many familiar but difficult questions about the extent to which artists can incorporate other creators’ work into their own.
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Grossman LLP Attorney Kate Lucas Lectures on Art Law at Duke Kunshan University
03/14/2022In late February, Grossman LLP’s Kate Lucas talked to undergraduate students at Duke Kunshan University about her work in art law.CATEGORY : Firm Update
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Warhol Foundation Asks Supreme Court To Weigh In On Goldsmith Dispute
After Second Circuit Rejects Its Fair Use Defense01/27/2022Since 2017, we’ve been following the federal lawsuit between the Andy Warhol Foundation and photographer Lynn Goldsmith; you can read our previous posts about it here, here, and here. A few months ago, a revised opinion from the Second Circuit added further complexity to the story. And now, the Warhol Foundation has asked the Supreme Court to give its opinion on whether the fair use defense protects the Foundation from Goldsmith’s copyright infringement claims.
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Art Law Year in Review
12/16/2021CATEGORIES : Art Galleries, Art Market, Fine Art, Forgeries, Legal Developments, Money Laundering, Stolen Artwork
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Grossman LLP Team Obtains—and Collects—$3 Million Judgment In Art Fraud Case
08/25/2021The team at Grossman LLP has just recovered $3 million in satisfaction of a judgment that the firm obtained for an art collector defrauded by an art dealer in connection with the sale of a Pablo Picasso painting.
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Grossman LLP Obtains Complete Dismissal With Prejudice of Lawsuit by Former NBCUniversal Head Alleging Sale of Rothko Forgery
08/17/2021This week, the Grossman LLP team obtained a complete dismissal of a lawsuit filed by NBCUniversal executive Ron Meyer against art dealer Susan Seidel. Meyer’s claims focused on a 2001 art deal involving a painting, purportedly by famed abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, which turned out to be a forgery.
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In Suit Over George Washington Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, Grossman LLP Obtains Dismissal of Collector’s Claims Against Hirschl & Adler Galleries07/28/2021 -
Clothing Brand Says It Will Phase Out Logo Amid Controversy With Street Artist, But Questions About “Fluid Trademarks” Remain
07/21/2021
In early 2021, the street artist known as Futura filed a lawsuit against the North Face Apparel Corp. (“NFA”) for unfair competition, alleging that NFA illegally adopted Futura’s iconic circular atom for its outerwear line called “FUTURELIGHT.” Recently, NFA issued a public statement regarding the lawsuit, and NFA has committed to discontinuingthe use of their FUTURELIGHT logo out of deference to Futura. However, the lawsuit remains unresolved and involves novel legal issues that could affect the landscape of trademark law.
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Possible Class Action Lawsuit Against NYPD and City Raises New VARA (and Civil Rights) Questions
06/30/2021
We have written often about the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), and in particular the emerging legal conversation about how VARA applies to street art. Now, a recently-initiated case—against New York City and the NYPD—may break new ground on that topic.
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Indonesian Theme Park Filled With Art Knockoffs Loses Copyright Suit By Artist’s Estate
06/10/2021
A couple of years ago, we wrote about “Rabbit Town,” a “selfie tourism” theme park in Indonesia where visitors can take photographs set against fantastical backdrops. The park charges admission for access to the park, which features several attractions that essentially recreate famous art installations from around the world, including works by Yayoi Kusama and imitations of scenes from the Museum of Ice Cream. The Rabbit Town versions often have different titles and do not credit the original artist. Now, Rabbit Town is facing a court order to destroy one of its attractions, an installation called “Love Light,” which is strikingly similar to Urban Light, a work by the late artist Chris Burden.
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Another Epilogue In the Long Saga Of A Looted Pissarro Painting
06/09/2021
The long-running dispute over a Pissarro painting has come to a close—yet again—after years of legal wrangling in multiple forums, and after a complex settlement arrangement collapsed in spectacular fashion. As is sadly the case in many stories involving Nazi-era art litigation, there is no dispute that the artwork at issue here was outright looted by Nazi forces in Nazi-occupied France, yet the artwork will not return to the family from whom it was wrested.
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New INTERPOL App Puts A Due Diligence Tool In the Hands of Art Buyers
05/18/2021
Last week, the International Criminal Police Organization (better known as INTERPOL), an international organization that facilitates cooperation by law enforcement organizations around the globe, announced a new project that may be of interest to art collectors, dealers, and anyone involved in high-end art transactions. INTERPOL has released a mobile application that allows a user to, among other things, quickly and conveniently determine whether a work of art appears in INTERPOL’s database of stolen artworks. The app, called ID-Art, is free and available in several languages, and on Android or iOS mobile devices.
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Grossman LLP Expands Practice with Addition of Seasoned Litigator
05/17/2021
Samantha A. Daniels has experience representing and counseling clients in their commercial litigation and intellectual property disputes.
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On Appeal, Second Circuit Reverses Fair Use Ruling In Dispute Over Andy Warhol Artwork
03/30/2021
Since 2017, we’ve been following the federal lawsuit between the Andy Warhol Foundation and photographer Lynn Goldsmith. In mid-2019, a federal judge in New York dismissed Goldsmith’s copyright infringement claims against the Foundation, ruling that a series of Warhol artworks based on an image taken by the photographer were protected as fair use. But now, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed that decision, in an opinion that has potentially wide-reaching impacts for the Foundation, for appropriation art generally, and for anyone in the art world who is interested in the ongoing question of how courts handle the difficult concept of fair use.
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NFTs: A Look at the Art Market’s Newest Trend, Common Misconceptions, and Thoughts on the Future
03/15/2021
There has been a lot of buzz—okay, that’s an understatement—about NFT art lately, and it may feel confusing to those who hail from the more “traditional” art world. Here at Grossman LLP, we’ve been intrigued by this phenomenon, and now this post aims to discuss some of the basics about NFTs and some widespread misconceptions about them. We also offer some thoughts on how they may potentially impact the art market going forward.
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Supreme Court Rules Against Jewish Art Dealers’ Heirs In Suit To Recover the “Guelph Treasure,” Allegedly the Subject of a Nazi-Era Forced Sale
02/15/2021
Just a few weeks ago, we wrote about some of the Supreme Court’s most significant art-related cases from 2020, and noted that we were awaiting the Court’s decision in a long-running dispute over the so-called Guelph Treasure. In early February, the Court issued its ruling, dealing the plaintiffs, who are the heirs of a consortium of Jewish art dealers, a major blow in their attempt to seek redress for their ancestors’ loss.
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U.S. Enacts the “CASE Act,” Providing An Alternative, Small-Claims Venue For Copyright Enforcement
02/12/2021
At the very end of 2020, Congress enacted new legislation that will provide a streamlined process for adjudicating small-claim copyright infringement cases. The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (the “CASE Act”), included as part of the COVID-19 Relief Bill, establishes a new Copyright Claims Board (“CCB”) to oversee claims of copyright infringement that do not exceed $30,000. Some see this is an efficient solution for those seeking to adjudicate minor copyright disputes, while others view this legislation as a potential avenue for attacks on everyday internet users who may lack the resources to track and opt out of these proceedings.
Art Law Blog