Category: Art Law News Links

  • In which I make enemies with the 5Pointz Collective…

    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…

  • No one gets between me and my…tattoo artist.

    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. …

  • #copyrightinfringement

    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…

  • "Museums are for the Dead, I Want Life"

    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…

  • News Heavy…

    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,…

  • Dueling Dinosaurs and Illicit Artifacts

    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…

  • In Memoriam

    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…

  • Heat Waves, Hot Topics: A Tale of Two DIAs

    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…

  • Picking Up Where We Left Off.

    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…

  • In Lieu of Sunshine….

    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…