Art law

US judge allows artist Deborah Roberts's copyright infringement lawsuit against New York gallery to proceed

The lawsuit brought by Roberts in 2022 has received a mixed ruling from Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, but she denied dealer Richard Beavers's motion to dismiss it

US Supreme Court declines to hear case challenging Smithsonian's restitution of Benin Bronzes

A New York-based organisation had sought to block the artefacts’ return to Nigeria

Artist on trial for website satirising Icelandic company’s alleged role in the Fishrot scandal

Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson’s spoof of the Samherji Group’s website featured a prominent apology, seemingly acknowledging its alleged role in the Namibian fishing scandal

Technologycomment

Despite the real (and artificial) fears of many, AI is not the enemy of the art world

Concerns about access, expertise and data sourcing have overshadowed the enormous power and potential that AI image generators offer

Curator Virginia Brilliant settles her lawsuit against Robilant + Voena gallery and its co-founders

Brilliant, who had sought at least $3m for claims related to her consulting work for the gallery, has withdrawn her complaint as part of the agreement

Art lawanalysis

Has a US law created to safeguard artists’ work backfired?

Critics say that a stalemate over the fate of a piece of Land art in Iowa demonstrates that the terms of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 are far too narrow

Disgraced adviser Lisa Schiff's art holdings planned for auction at Phillips starting in November

Bankruptcy trustees have proposed selling hundreds of works through the auction house, with hopes to recover up to $2m

New California law could reverse outcome in dispute over Nazi-looted Pissarro

The new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom is intended to resolve a decades-long restitution claim in a California family’s favour

Holocaust-restitution firm Mondex settles legal feud with heir over fees for $24m Chagall painting

"Over Vitebsk" by Marc Chagall hung at the Museum of Modern Art for decades until 2020, when it was restituted to the the heirs of a Jewish-owned art gallery in 1930s Berlin

Leaderscomment

The US needs an independent commission for Nazi loot claims

‘If an artwork is located in the US, its fate cannot be decided in any other state, and any wrong decisions cannot be corrected elsewhere’

Chris Levine’s Queen Elizabeth II portraits at centre of multi-million-pound copyright row

Jersey Heritage Trust is suing the light artist over unpaid licensing fees, but the artist says the charity owes him money

Former New Orleans police officer indicted for allegedly orchestrating ill-fated art insurance scam

Christian Claus faces decades in prison for faking an art heist that would have netted a co-conspirator a $128,500 insurance payout

Curator files explosive lawsuit against Robilant + Voena gallery alleging toxic workplace and other violations

Virginia Brilliant accuses the dealers of "repeatedly, regularly and constantly making misogynistic, antisemitic, racist and homophobic comments" and more

Christie's hit with class action lawsuit over exposure of clients' personal data in cyberattack

The complaint, filed on 3 June by a Dallas-based customer, is the latest problem for the auction house following a major cyberattack

Art lawcomment

Private sellers in the UK must beware after High Court ruling

Findings in the Feilding vs Simon C. Dickinson Ltd case set worrisome precedents for British art trade on multiple levels

Women-only art installation is 'discriminatory', Tasmanian court rules

Kirsha Kaechele's Ladies Lounge at the Museum of Old and New Art must admit men within 28 days

Art marketanalysis

The Gray Market: Why contemporary dealers and collectors are monitoring an antitrust lawsuit over Birkin bags

Hermès's alleged sale strategy for the in-demand bags parallels dealers' waiting list policies, but legal experts are sceptical of the lawsuit's merits

Donald Judd’s foundation sues Kim Kardashian for trademark and copyright infringement

The lawsuit centres on minimalist tables and chairs in Kardashian's company's offices

Warhol Foundation to pay photographer $21,000 as dispute over Prince portraits ends

The case had gone all the way to the US Supreme Court, which last spring ruled in favour of the photographer Lynn Goldsmith

Frida Kahlo Corporation files trademark suit against Amazon sellers

The company that owns the anti-capitalist artist's image is embroiled in yet another legal tussle over representation

Jury sides with Sotheby's in New York fraud trial against Rybolovlev

The billionaire had sought at least $190m in damages from Sotheby's related to deals with Yves Bouvier. Instead, he will get nothing

AlUlanews

Head of Saudi Arabia's AlUla cultural development arrested over corruption claims

Amr al-Madani is accused of “abuse of authority and money laundering“, according to local media

Art marketanalysis

The Gray Market: Rybolovlev’s trial against Sotheby’s has become a slog through minutiae—and that’s good for the auction house

The art market ‘trial of the century’ has transitioned from courtroom drama to bureaucratic headache

US court rules Nazi-looted Pissarro painting belongs to Spain

The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals leaves the heirs of Lilly Cassirer with few options to pursue their restitution claim

Lawyers for Rybolovlev and Sotheby's spar on first day of New York fraud trial

At issue is whether the auction house "aided and abetted" Yves Bouvier in inflating prices in four private sales

Art Market Eye | Will there be more or less work for art lawyers in 2024?

In what looks likely to be the continuation of a declining market, we may see more litigation in the art world this year

Italian court sides with Getty Museum in export dispute over Bassano painting

The Council of State dismissed the Italian culture ministry’s belated attempt to repatriate “absolute masterpiece” from the Los Angeles museum