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California Federal Court Weighs Copyright Questions Related To Interactive Digital Art Installations
05/31/2022
An infringement case pending in a California federal court raises some interesting questions about how copyright law applies in the context of interactive art installations—an important topic in an art market that is increasingly exploring these innovative forms and mediums.
ATTORNEY : Kate Lucas
CATEGORIES : Art Exhibitions, Art Galleries, Art Market, Copyright, Legal Developments, Trademark -
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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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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Senate Report Scrutinizes Money-Laundering Issues In the Art Market, And May Signal Congressional Willingness To Increase Regulation of Art Deals
08/04/2020
Last month, this blog wrote about several forfeiture complaints recently filed by the United States Department of Justice seeking to recover the illicit proceeds of the 1MDB scandal. The complaints sought, among other things, the recovery of several high value works of art that had allegedly been used to launder the misappropriated 1MDB funds. We noted that “[t]hese forfeiture complaints serve as a reminder that high-end art transactions are often viewed by white collar criminals as an effective method of money laundering.” And now, a recently-released Senate report shows that Congress is taking these concerns very seriously and may soon take up legislation cracking down on money laundering in the art world.
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Artist’s Lawsuit Highlights Need For Caution In Using Digital Images of Artworks
07/30/2020
A recently filed lawsuit by the artist Pat Lipsky highlights an often-overlooked risk for New York galleries and auction houses exhibiting works online: running afoul of New York’s Artist’s Authorship Rights Act (“AARA”). That law—a precursor to the federal Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) of 1990—gives artists in New York the legal right to claim or disclaim authorship of a work of art, and object to its display, publication or reproduction in an altered, defaced, mutilated, or modified form that could damage the artist’s reputation. Unlike VARA, AARA protects not just the artist’s interests in the work itself, but also any reproductions of the work, even if no physical change has been made to the original work.
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Civil Forfeiture Complaints Highlight Ongoing Risk of Money Laundering in High-End Art Transactions
07/20/2020
An ongoing challenge for art dealers, galleries, and auction houses, is guarding against the use of art transactions as a means of laundering the proceeds of criminal activity. Money laundering is a federal crime that involves disguising the proceeds of a crime by integrating those proceeds into the legitimate financial system, often through a series of complex and confusing transactions designed to conceal the origin, source and ownership of the funds. When money laundering is successful, it becomes difficult to distinguish illicit proceeds from legitimate financial resources, thus permitting funds to be used by criminals without detection. Purchasing art is one way to conceal the source of illicit funds. Several recently filed civil forfeiture complaints from the U.S. Department of Justice highlight the ongoing need to remain vigilant about money laundering in the context of art transactions.
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Museum Association Temporarily Relaxes Stance on Deaccessioning, Raising Possibility of More Art Sales By U.S. Museums
04/19/2020
Amidst the social and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has temporarily revised the guidelines it imposes on its members. Recognizing that museums (like many other art-related businesses) are struggling to stay afloat, the AAMD is easing certain restrictions on the use of trusts, donations, and gains from endowment investments, and on the use of proceeds from deaccessioning artworks.
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How COVID-19 May Impact the Art Law Sphere In the Coming Months
03/31/2020
In the few short weeks since our last post in this space, the world has changed in staggering ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on governments, businesses, economies, markets, communities, and most importantly, countless families and lives.
The current crisis has also profoundly impacted the larger art world. We do not claim to have any special powers to predict the future of the art market, particularly in the face of this unprecedented crisis. But as seasoned litigators with years of experience in art law, here are a few thoughts about what we may see in the coming months in the realm of art disputes, as the ramifications of this pandemic continue to unfold. -
Updates From Across the Pond: New Developments In Two Major Stories From the European Art Market
01/08/2020
As the new year begins, we write with some brief updates on two significant stories we’ve been following for some time. One involves the ongoing issues arising out of the discovery of several forged Old Master works on the European art market. The other involves a bitter, globe-spanning feud between a mega-collector and his onetime dealer. And both of these complex situations will continue to reverberate throughout the art ecosystem.
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A British Court Just Froze the Assets of Inigo Philbrick, a Dealer Accused of Holding $14 Million Worth of Art Hostage
11/14/2019
The scandal surrounding troubled art dealer Inigo Philbrick is heating up. A British judge has issued an order to freeze millions of dollars worth of his assets in the wake of several lawsuits alleging that he is improperly holding or has sold major artworks that don’t belong to him.
CATEGORY : Art Market -
Rudolf Stingel Painting at Center of Inigo Philbrick Lawsuit Faces Another Ownership Claim
11/14/2019
The artwork at the center of a lawsuit against dealer Inigo Philbrick now has new claims that complicate a story that includes accusations of a fake auction guarantee. In a lawsuit filed last week with the Supreme Court of New York, Guzzini Properties, Ltd., a company that collects art, claimed ownership of the work against competing claims from Aleksandar Pesko, whose company is Satfinance Investment Ltd. and Germany’s Fine Art Partners.
CATEGORY : Art Market -
Further Relief For Art Authenticators: New York State Court Dismisses Second Complaint Against Agnes Martin’s Catalogue Raisonné
09/06/2019
This summer, a New York Supreme Court judge threw out another complaint filed in a long-running legal battle between London art dealer James Mayor’s gallery and members of the Agnes Martin catalogue raisonné committee, providing further comfort for art authenticators who may face litigation in retaliation for their opinions.
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Grossman LLP Defeats Efforts to Dismiss Collector’s Replevin Claims Against London Dealers
08/01/2019
More than a year has passed since New York dealer Ezra Chowaiki pled guilty to federal charges related to his misconduct in cheating numerous clients in fraudulent art deals. But the legal fallout continues. Many of his victims and business associates have asserted claims (for money or art) in connection with the bankruptcy of his gallery, Chowaiki & Co., as well as in federal forfeiture proceedings that allow claimants to assert their rights to artworks ordered forfeited to the government as part of Chowaiki’s guilty plea.
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Old Master Forgery Story Update: New Developments In Two Sotheby’s Lawsuits to Recover Proceeds From Sales of Alleged Fakes
04/12/2019
We have written on several occasions (see here, here, and here) about the tangle of disputes that have arisen from the discovery of multiple suspected forgeries of Old Master artworks. Now, one such dispute has reached a settlement, and another has resulted in a judgment for Sotheby’s; but other questions about these works, and the Old Master market generally, remain.
ATTORNEY : Kate Lucas
CATEGORIES : Art Market, Auction, Authentication, Fine Art, Legal Developments, Uncategorized -
German Cathedral Surrenders Nazi-Looted Artwork To Heirs of Jewish Owners; Meanwhile, A Separate Art Recovery Suit Ends in Defeat, Illustrating Continuing Challenges in Nazi-Era Restitution Litigation
03/28/2019
Last week, a cathedral in Germany agreed to turn over a valuable painting to the heirs of the family from whom it was stolen during World War II. The case marks another example of the type of negotiated restitution that has become an important factor in art disputes in recent years, but stands in stark contrast to another dispute that ended in defeat a few months ago for the heirs of a Jewish art dealer who fled Germany in the years leading up to World War II.
ATTORNEY : Kate Lucas
CATEGORIES : Art Market, Fine Art, Legal Developments, Nazi-looted Art, Uncategorized -
Motion Practice Regarding Expert Witnesses In Prince Instagram Cases May Have Larger Implications For Fair Use Law
02/26/2019
We here at Grossman LLP, along with many other legal commentators, have been following with interest the lawsuits against appropriation artist Richard Prince arising out of his controversial New Portraits works, first shown at the Gagosian Gallery in 2014, which Prince created from screen shots of photos taken by other Instagram users. The court is now considering the defendants’ motions for summary judgment on the issue of fair use, which have been fully briefed. But along with the main event—the summary judgment motion—the court is also considering additional motions filed by both parties with regard to each other’s expert witnesses. These motions are worth examining because they will presumably be resolved along with the summary judgment decision, and they raise some interesting questions that may have implications in the larger arena of fair use case law.
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Collector Sues London Art Gallery for Failing to Disclose Price History of Two Paintings
02/20/2019
A lawsuit pending in the United Kingdom continues the ongoing debate about how much due diligence buyers must perform when purchasing artwork, including whether such buyers must investigate price histories.
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Lawsuit By Gallery Against Former Employee Raises Questions About Confidential Information In The Art Trade
02/15/2019
A contentious lawsuit is underway between a Manhattan art gallery and its former director over her handling of purportedly-confidential information when she quit her job to accept a position at another gallery. The case raises potentially important questions about one of the key assets of any art business—information about its customers and contacts.
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Russian Billionaire Rybolovlev Sues Sotheby’s For Allegedly Facilitating Dealer’s Massive Markups
11/05/2018
The long-running, globe-spanning dispute between two powerful figures in the international art world has taken a new turn, as one of the parties levels formal claims against auction giant Sotheby’s for its role in multiple purportedly fraudulent art deals. The case continues to shine a spotlight on the often-convoluted and opaque nature of high-end art transactions.
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New Lawsuit Highlights Importance of Clear Documentation When Loaning Artworks – Even To Family
10/26/2018
This week, a family dispute over a Max Ferguson painting ripened into litigation, providing a cautionary tale for art collectors who loan their works to institutions and family members.
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