Art law

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

Art lawcomment

‘Unregulated’ auction price manipulation may still be illegal

A 'nagging sense of lawlessness' persists despite the industry's periodic rebuttals

Dmitry Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier settle nine-year legal feud

The Russian oligarch had accused the Swiss businessman of swindling him out of €1.1bn by overcharging him on art

Mystery over Agnelli dynasty’s missing art

Investigation by Italy’s broadcaster about the whereabouts of art from the late industrialist’s collection has revealed apparent widespread failure to enforce country’s cultural export rules

Cleveland Museum of Art sues the Manhattan District Attorney to retain ownership of $20m bronze statue

The museum had revised its own prior research in an apparent attempt to keep a headless sculpture believed to depict Marcus Aurelius

Collector Ron Perelman’s lawsuit against insurer over damaged art takes new turn

Court allows insurers to amend their argument, after arguing that the collector misrepresented his intention to sell “damaged” works, in $410m insurance claim

Time for the UK to adopt US-style rules on holding artists' funds

Primary-market sale proceeds should be held on trust so artists are never left out of pocket by a gallery's insolvency, writes IP and art lawyer Jon Sharples

Art marketanalysis

When dealers go bust, what happens to the art they hold?

Establishing ownership and value of works can be a complicated business, as recent legal cases have shown

Artists, writers, performers and their advocates call on US Congress to ban companies from copyrighting AI-generated art

The AI Day of Action, scheduled for 2 October, comes as US officials consider whether and how to regulate material generated by artificial intelligence

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum sues architect and construction company behind new $38m pavilion

The museum says that Why Architects and Swinerton Builders “failed to meet even the minimum museum-quality standards”

US authorities return seven Schiele works to heirs of cabaret performer murdered by the Nazis

The seven drawings, seized from public and private collections throughout the US, are collectively valued at nearly $10m

Gagosian notches victory in lawsuit brought by photographer over Richard Prince’s New Portraits series

The gallery will not have to pay Donald Graham for any “unrealised profits” related to Prince’s appropriation of the photographer’s work

Allegedly Nazi-looted Egon Schiele works valued at nearly $4m are seized at US museums

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office ordered the seizure of works at the Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Museums and Allen Memorial Art Museum

Photo ban lifted on Picasso’s Guernica after 30 years

New museum director hopes to appeal to younger audiences though selfie sticks are still off limits

What the latest US court ruling means for AI-generated art’s copyright status

A judge said the absence of a “guiding human hand” disqualified the AI-generated image from copyright protection, but other generative art may still qualify

Hundreds of works from Los Angeles's infamous Ace Gallery to be liquidated via online auction

At least $230,000 worth of art and ephemera is being offered to repay creditors in the gallery's 2013 bankruptcy

Sculptor’s long-running lawsuit against Kevin Costner can resume, judges rule

A panel of judges found that the lawsuit, over what Costner claims is the third-largest bronze sculpture in the world, had been erroneously dismissed

Art marketanalysis

Does the punishment fit the crime? Art fraudsters face erratic sentencing

Recent high-profile cases, such as those of Daniel Elie Bouaziz and Angela Gulbenkian, demonstrate that lengths of sentences vary widely, with little consistency in judges’ reasoning

Lawnews

Poet and translator to sue British Museum for copyright and moral rights infringement

Vancouver-based Yilin Wang has raised more than £15,000 via Crowd Justice to begin legal proceedings

Art lawcomment

The jury is out on resale clauses, but there are other options

In-demand artists and their galleries are exploring creative legal solutions alongside measures improving resale restrictions' likelihood of enforceability

Florida judge squashes copyright infringement lawsuit over Maurizio Cattelan’s banana

The judge dismissed a suit brought by artist Joe Morford claiming he had made the original taped-banana work in 2001