CLANCCO

Madoff "Feeder" to Sell Art Collection

2009-06-30T22:01:12Z

Bombarded by lawsuits accusing him of fraud in connection with the Madoff scandal (including one from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo), New York financier J. Ezra Merkin and his wife have arranged to sell their collection of paintings by abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, as well as some valuable sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "[a]n anonymous buyer has agreed to pay $310 million for the trove...[.]"

Oxford University Returns Aboriginal Remains

2009-06-29T00:17:30Z

Just last month, a delegation from the Ngarrindjeri tribe collected three skulls from Oxford University, acquired in the 1860s. When Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner, his body painted in ochres, conducted the formal handover ceremony on the university lawns, he felt a sense of satisfaction. "It's a big accomplishment, not only for us but for Oxford University, as it's the first time they've agreed to repatriate," says Sumner. "It sends a clear message to other British institutions. Why do they need to hold on to our 'old people'?" The Guardian has the entire story here.

Photos Stolen From Art Exhibit

2009-06-28T05:20:39Z

Police say 14 photographs worth $42,000 have been stolen from an exhibit at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate in Concord, N.H. The stolen pieces were among 20 black-and-white photos taken by Michael Garlington, a northern California photographer.

Bonn Museum Exhibits Fake Modigliani

2009-06-28T05:04:27Z

At a retrospective exhibition of works by artist Amedeo Modigliani in Bonn, at least one of the paintings is said to be fake. The case is under investigation. Art expert Henrik Hanstein, managing partner at one of the leading art auction houses in Europe, explains in an interview: This has to do with Modigliani himself, who certainly didn't live the kind of orderly life that every art cataloger hopes for - he didn't register or photograph every painting. Modigliani's estate was scattered very quickly in all directions and it quickly became a kind of Bohemian myth and, thus, an easy target for imitators. Entire interview at Deutsche Welle.

Judge Posner: Against Hyperlinking and Paraphrasing

2009-06-26T15:46:23Z

Richard Posner, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, has just posted a blog entry, The Future of Newspapers, where he outlines the impact of our current economic situation on the newspaper industry. Although not directly related to art his post is crucial not only to blogs like Clancco and other art blogs, but also artist websites that hyperlink to newspaper and journal articles, directly or by paraphrasing an articles content. In his blog, Posner ends his entry by arguing that news service providers such as Reuters and the Associated Press should be able to bar access to their content if we believe in "professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion." Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion. Against our own interests, we have to agree with Judge Posner. For an alternative viewpoint on Judge Posner's arguments, see Techdirt's Mike Masnick.

Ponzi Scheme Kills 9/11 Monument

2009-06-26T13:54:49Z

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges Coadum Advisers Inc. raised $30 million by promising investors returns as high as 6 percent per month. The SEC contends that these fraudulent investments financed a towering sculpture in the Maryland mountains depicting three New York City firefighters raising the US flag at Ground Zero. In hopes of repaying the defrauded investors, the 40-foot bronze statue unveiled in November 2007 at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Md., is for sale.

International Conference to Bolster Return of Nazi-looted Art

2009-06-23T12:15:08Z

From today's Boston Globe, a major conference to strategize the return of Nazi-looted art:

Government officials from around 49 countries, dozens of non-governmental groups and Jewish representatives will meet in Prague this week to review current practices. They are likely to sign a new agreement to step up restitution efforts.

The task of restituting Nazi-looted works is an epic one. The Nazis formed a bureaucracy devoted to looting and they plundered a total of 650,000 art and religious objects from Jews and other victims, the Jewish Claims Conference estimates.

Artist's Rights Society Threatens Michigan Town

2009-06-22T13:04:38Z

Anyone know Danish law? The Little Mermaid has brought a bit of legal conflict to a little town in Michigan.

According to City Manager George Bosanic, the city was notified by letter from the Artists Rights Society (The ARS represents more than 50,000 artists and their copyrights) in New York City, representing the estate of Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen, saying the statue is illegal and may have to be removed.

According to Michigan's Daily News, Eriksen created the original "Little Mermaid" statue in 1913 as a tribute to Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Sitting at the harbor in Copenhagen, Denmark, the statue draws an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year. The director for ARS said the managers of the estate of Eriksen want the statue to be removed since no permission was granted to create a replica, and that even if the statue may not be an exact replica of the original the pose and name are the same, showing it was at least attempting to replicate Denmark's version. Michigan's Daily News has more.

Chapman Kelley Files Response and Reply Brief

2009-06-19T17:33:27Z

Below is artist Chapman Kelley's response and reply brief to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, filed on June 12, 2009, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois erred in finding that Chapman's Wildflower Works was not protected by the Visual Artist's Rights Act of 1990, and that the District Court should have awarded Chapman damages in finding the Chicago Park District liable for breach of contract. I agree with Donn Zaretsky that this case, along with the Mass MoCA v. Buchel case, are of grave import to contemporary artists. In fact, two strong pro-artist rulings in both cases can simultaneously revive the nearly-gutted VARA statute and counter the Phillps v. Pembroke decision which denied VARA protection to site-specific works. With a bit of luck Kelley could very well end up with three Seventh Circuit judges whose rationale and intellectual pin-point precision is unmatched: Richard A. Posner, Frank H. Easterbrook, and Diane P. Wood. Let's cross our fingers! Kelley is represented pro bono by Kirkland & Ellis LLP. ChapmanKelley.responseandreplybrief

Picasso Sketchbook Stolen

2009-06-09T19:11:17Z

A notebook full of Pablo Picasso's sketches worth several million pounds (valued at 7-10 million euros or $9.7 million-$13.9 million) stolen from the Musée national Picasso Paris.

City Settles Lawsuit Against Photographer

2009-06-08T20:35:35Z

The City of Snohomish has settled with a University of Washington fine art professor arrested shortly after she was seen photographing power lines. Scheier's suit followed an earlier legal action filed by Bogdan Mohora, who was arrested in 2004 after being seen photographing the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard. The City of Seattle later paid Mohora $8,000 to settle the claim.

Chapman Kelley: My Work Is Original

2009-06-05T17:10:49Z

Seems like a district court judge in Illinois is not up on his critical theory readings, particularly those of Walter Benjamin. Ruling that Kelley's work lacked originality, the district court judge held that the Visual Artists Rights Act did not protect Kelley's work because it lacked "originality," a critical precursor to establishing a copyright violation (VARA is part of U.S. copyright law). This is quite odd given the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the standard for creativity is extremely low: it need not be novel, but rather possess only a "spark" or "minimal degree" of creativity to be protected by copyright. We'll keep an eye on this one. More from The Art Newspaper here.

Yale University Accused of Accepting Stolen Painting

2009-06-03T21:21:39Z

The heir to the Russian Morozov collection alleges Yale University accepted stolen property and conspired in "art laundering." According to the Boston Globe, Pierre Konowaloff "argues in recent court papers that Russian authorities in the 1917 revolution unlawfully confiscated the painting owned by Konowaloff's ancestor and that the United States deemed the theft a violation of international law."

Yale received the painting through a bequest from Yale alumnus Stephen Carlton Clark. The school says Clark bought the painting, which shows the inside of a nearly empty cafe, with a few customers seated at tables along the walls, from a gallery in New York City in 1933 or 1934. But Konowaloff alleges Clark knew of the painting's ownership history and that "Yale engaged in a policy of willful ignorance" when it accepted the piece in 1961.

Prosecutors Drop 14 Against Shepard Fairey

2009-06-03T17:51:09Z

Finding that proving 14 vandalism charges against Shepard Fairey would be near impossible, Suffolk County prosecutors decided to drop these charges filed in Roxbury District Court last March.

Fairey, who lives in Los Angeles, still faces 13 similar charges in other city courts, including an allegation that he posted graffiti on an electrical box in Allston in 2000. Police officers caught him in the act, according to the prosecutor's office.

However, he's not out of the criminal woods yet. Neighbors around Mission Hill and the Back Bay said they are hopeful authorities will still prosecute Fairey on some of the remaining charges. More from the still breathing Boston Globe.

Mural Depicting Criminals Removed

2009-06-02T23:52:47Z

San Diego artist Kevin Anderson completed a four-by-seven-foot painting a year ago at the request of Commercial Facilities, Inc., a company that manages the property the property. According to the San Diego Weekly:

The Deaccessioning Blog [del.icio.us]

2009-01-14T10:10:31-08:00

The Art Law Blog [del.icio.us]

2008-08-16T09:21:06-07:00

Information Society Project at Yale Law School [del.icio.us]

2008-08-16T09:19:43-07:00

Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School [del.icio.us]

2008-08-16T09:17:17-07:00

Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School [del.icio.us]

2008-08-16T09:06:26-07:00

United States Patent and Trademark Office [del.icio.us]

2008-08-16T08:49:42-07:00

United States Copyright Office [del.icio.us]

2008-05-18T09:51:14-07:00

Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center [del.icio.us]

2008-03-26T20:43:29-07:00

First Amendment Center [del.icio.us]

2007-07-06T07:00:39-07:00

Fair Use Network [del.icio.us]

2006-11-03T10:28:59-08:00

If you have received a "cease and desist" letter from a copyright or trademark owner, or a notice from your Internet service provider about a "takedown" letter, you'll also find useful information on this site.

Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School [del.icio.us]

2006-04-16T21:42:16-07:00

Its mission is to promote research and scholarship on the contributions of the public domain to speech, culture, science and innovation, to promote debate about the balance needed in our intellectual property system and to translate academic research into