Art + Law in the News Restitution made easier? Or with exceptions? A new UK rule taking effect on 27 November 2025 makes it easier for charitable, non-national museums to return cultural objects for moral reasons. These changes, set out in sections 15 and 16 of the Charities Act 2022, simplify the process for “ex… Read more: Art Law Monthly – November 2025 Edition by Nawoon Yoon
Art + Law in the News Heirs File Suit Over Allegedly Nazi-Looted Olive Picking by Vincent van Gogh The heirs of Hedwig Stern and Frederick Stern have sued Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) and the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens, alleging that the 1889 van Gogh painting Olive Picking was looted by… Read more: Art Law Monthly – October 2025 Edition by Nawoon Yoon
This article analyzes whether current U.S. intellectual property law can protect street art from being copied, removed, sold, or destroyed without the street artist’s consent and proposes that copyright law should expand to specifically include graffiti law to ensure protection of outdoor street art, so as to avoid any confusion about its status as protectable art. In addition, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1900 definition of “recognized stature” should be more clearly expressed to protect graffiti art.
PETA filed a lawsuit on his behalf to determine whether an animal can be considered an author for the purpose of holding a copyright to its artistic work.
by Guest Blogger Nadia Kashem [Editor’s Note: Nadia Kashem is a first-year law student at Fordham University School of Law and former architectural student of The Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York]. “Imitation is the sincerest of flattery,” Charles Caleb Colton once wrote.[1] For Zaha Hadid, this flattery came in… Read more: A Tale of Two Buildings: A Case of Architectural Copyright Infringement in China by Nadia Kashem
By Laura Zaharia We recently started a new academic year—a new beginning, a chance to start out fresh. As I thought about fresh starts in the art community for my very first blog post, the Whitney Museum of American Art immediately came to my mind. The museum opened the doors to its new home in… Read more: #TheNewWhitney by Laura Zaharia
By Guest Blogger Steffanie Keim [Editor’s Note: Steffanie Keim is a Candidate for Doctor of Juridical Science ‘2018 at Fordham University School of Law, as well as FALS’ SJD Liason. Her research focus is restitution of Nazi-looted art.] This summer the art law community mourns the loss of two of its luminaries within one week:… Read more: Art Law Community Mourns Loss of Two Luminaries by Steffanie Keim
Elle Davis, Vice President of FALS and second year law student, is a complete novice on the topic of art law. Her journey began her senior year as an undergraduate at University of Florida. Because she completed her required courses her junior year, she used her extra elective space for exploring art. She dove in… Read more: Discovering Art Law & the Opening of A New Academic Year
The Hollywood Reporter’s entertainment law blog “ESQ.” fills us in: the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday protected the National Football League and the Baltimore Ravens from an artist who had once convinced a judge that the team had infringed upon his design to create the Ravens’ old logo.
An odd love triangle among three glamours legends: Ryan O’Neal, Farrah Fawcett, and Andy Warhol. The issue: who owns a $12 million pop art portrait when the relationship is on-and-off, and the University of Texas claims it was gifted to them in a trust? O’Neal and the school are duking it out in a jury… Read more: All is Fair in Love and Art?
Otto Dix painting, sourced from WikiMedia The trove of Nazi-era art of previously unregistered works by Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, Max Liberman and Henri Matisse found in an apartment last March has presented some interesting legal questions. There are a few layers of shady, potentially criminal, activity at work here, the initial Nazi-looting and then… Read more: Looters Ahead
Image courtesy of John Roleke at About.com The street art collective 5Pointz won a stay of execution (restraining order) freezing the building owner’s demolition preparations. It’s all over the news: here, here, here, etc. Lawyers for the collective centered their arguments on a clause from the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), which allows certain… Read more: In which I make enemies with the 5Pointz Collective…
Image courtesy of Design Taxi The Washington D.C. Department of Health proposed a 24-hour waiting period for people seeking a tattoo or body piercing. Check out the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here. In line with agency notice and comment requirements, the public has 30 days to comment on the proposal before it could become a final regulation. … Read more: No one gets between me and my…tattoo artist.
Robin Thicke and Co. are seeking a declaratory judgment that the summer hit “Blurred Lines” (or is it #blurredlines?) does not infringe upon the Marvin Gaye song, “Gotta Give it Up.” Decide for yourself here and here. Talk about “blurred lines”…. GET IT? The Attorney General of the SDNY and New York office of the FBI charged James Meyer, Jasper… Read more: #copyrightinfringement
Image courtesy of The Superslice. According to a source “close to the decision-making process,” there is a good chance that the Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management Committee will reverse the ban on the creation of murals on private property when they vote next week. Check out a great video short on The Superslice about efforts to… Read more: "Museums are for the Dead, I Want Life"
Judge Oetken of the S.D.N.Y. issued his Biro v. Condé Nast opinion. J. Oetken granted The New Yorker and Grann’s motion to for an order finding Biro to be a public figure, as well as their motion for judgment on the pleadings, and granted the remaining defendants’ motions for dismissal for failure to state a claim. Notably,… Read more: News Heavy…
Sue, the T-Rex at the Field Museum. The fossils of dueling dinosaurs were found by commercial prospectors, who calls himself the “Dino Cowboy,” on on a private ranch in Montana. Since the U.S. only regulates fossils found on public lands, and the Dino Cowboy has not found a ready institutional buyer, the dinosaur fossils are… Read more: Dueling Dinosaurs and Illicit Artifacts
Image from Arts & Culture: 104 Walter de Maria died yesterday at the age of 77. Although de Maria was not a household name, he had a huge influence on the Earthworks movement. Check out his piece, “Lightning Fields” (above), and maybe you’ll see why he is one of my favorites. In other art law… Read more: In Memoriam
Some great links from around the Internets. Stay cool people. DIA drama over deaccessioning plan. Try to say that three times, fast. Also, Detroit has officially filed for bankruptcy. This does not bode well for the Detroit Institute of Art. A member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council has announced that he plans to fight… Read more: Heat Waves, Hot Topics: A Tale of Two DIAs
It’s still raining in New York. In other news: The State Senate thinks DIAs’ collection is important, but less important than summer vacay. Over on Bloomberg, Virginia Postrel makes a pretty good case for why the collections should be sold off. Richard Prince posted a video of him burning a “Canal Zone” painting, one of… Read more: Picking Up Where We Left Off.
here are some links to get you through this rainy Friday: The Velvet Underground went bananas over some iProducts, then they settled for an undisclosed amount. State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville-R has proposed a bill to prevent the sale of the DIA collection, and protect cultural assets from bankruptcy proceedings in general. However, it… Read more: In Lieu of Sunshine….
Danish artist, Martin Martensen-Larsen, plans to turn the body of a convicted murderer, currently on death-row in Texas, into a work of art. The prisoner, Travis Runnels, has donated his body for the piece, which will be painted gold and modeled on Lincoln’s Memorial. The artist has already begun to prepare his argument against the… Read more: Friday Link Round-Up
The Art Newspaper tells us: Now that a temporary export ban has been lifted from the work by the UK government, French newspaper Le Figaro says the Middle Eastern state has acquired Picasso’s Child with a Dove for £50m.
The New York Times reports: Cubism, Which Changed Art, Now Changes the Met, as the museum takes in a trove of signature works, which includes 33 Picassos, 17 Braques, 14 Légers and 14 works by Gris. The group of works is valued at more than $1 billion.
The New York Times discusses how the family of Parisian gallery owner Paul Rosenberg has evidenced documents showing that “Woman in Blue in Front of Fireplace” was confiscated from them by the Nazis in 1941, and must be returned to them by the Norwegian Museum currently in possession. This topic may be of particular interest… Read more: Matisse’s Return to Paris?
The Met’s website is currently showing An Important Message from the Director in response to the claim that the museum’s ticketing policies were allegedly deceptive.
This ArtInfo article discusses Art at the Center of Real Estate Mogul’s $4.15-Million Chelsea Hotel Feud. You can also view a copy of the complaint discussed in the article here.
ArtInfo tells us more about 20×200’s current financial woes. Will the many uncompensated artists and paying customers without their art lead to legal troubles for the once popular art sales website?
Not directly related to the law, but worth checking out as big changes in the art market can mean big changes in art law: Jeffrey Saltz on the Death of the Gallery Show
InterARTive is a periodical online platform for Contemporary art and thought, publishing thematic texts and online exhibitions. Check out the current Art + Copyright Special Issue #50 for interviews, videos, editorials, and digital exhibitions exploring the intersection of artistic expression and intellectual property.
The Art Newspaper explains how the human rights appeal of an imprisoned Qatari poet has raised serious questions about freedom of expression, affecting several UK museums’ related exhibition programming.
The Economist fills us in on how the Turkish authorities have recently launched a wave of cultural expansionism, building new museums, repairing Ottoman remains, licensing fresh archaeological excavations and spending more on the arts.
The Wall Street Journal says: though Warhol works will be shown at Chinese museums, any images of Mao will be excluded. An op-ed in Global Times speculated last month that the images of Mao, which are often colored in pastels and bright colors and may appear to show the leader wearing makeup, could be considered disrespectful.… Read more: China to Host Warhol Exhibitions Without the Maos
According to The New York Times and CNN: Federal officials announced that they know the identities of thieves from the Gardner Art Theft. Also: an op-ed piece discussing the new findings As mentioned in our recent entry, the FBI is now using this website to collect information and locate the lost artworks. Of note: the FBI… Read more: Big Developments in Gardner Art Theft Case
FBI Turns to Internet to solve $500 Million Gardner Heist – CNET It was the largest property crim in US history, one shrouded in mystery for 23 years. Now the FBI is turning to cyberspace as it trumpets a breakthrough in the case. When Art Finance Bets Goes Bad: The Downside of Third Party Guarantees… Read more: Art Law Articles of Interest
This article analyzes whether current U.S. intellectual property law can protect street art from being copied, removed, sold, or destroyed without the street artist’s consent and proposes that copyright law should expand to specifically include graffiti law to ensure protection of outdoor street art, so as to avoid any confusion about its status as protectable art. In addition, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1900 definition of “recognized stature” should be more clearly expressed to protect graffiti art.
Fordham Art Law Society (FALS) 
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