artflaw» Miscellany Archive | artflaw

EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn sits down with Stephen Colbert

artflaw — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:49:47 +0000

Electronic Frontier Foundation legal director Cindy Cohn talks net neutrality, first amendment and fair use with Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report. From EFF: “In a hard-hitting in-depth interview, Stephen and Cindy sparred over the most important issues facing the Internet today, including Hitler jokes, the Second Amendment, and Beer Cat.”

White House Joint Strategic Plan attempts to balance IP enforcement and artistry

artflaw — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:22:43 +0000

On Tuesday, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, released the Joint Strategic Plan to Combat Intellectual Property Theft. In a blog post, Espinel notes the importance of balancing enforcement and creativity via fair use, “The Obama Administration has always embraced the free flow of information, online collaboration, and fair use by average citizens, which are also helping to advance our society and economy every day — this strategy does not target legitimate and legal activity.”

At the unveiling (below), Espinel and Vice President Joe Biden summarize the plan, including proposed legislation to identify counterfeit products and thwart online piracy.

It’s clear the government is taking an uncompromising approach to piracy. As Vice President Biden put it, “Piracy is theft. Clean and simple [...] It’s smash and grab. No different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany’s and reaching in and grabbing what’s in the window.”

However, Espinel’s report notes the importance of Fair Use as a means of supporting innovation and artistry.

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution vests in the Congress the discretion to establish laws to promote science and artistic creativity “by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Over the last two centuries, our Founding Fathers have been proven right. One of the reasons that the U.S. is a global leader in innovation and creativity is our early establishment of strong legal mechanisms to provide necessary economic incentives required to innovate. By the same token, fair use of intellectual property can support innovation and artistry. Strong intellectual property enforcement efforts should be focused on stopping those stealing the work of others, not those who are appropriately building upon it.

More from TechDirt. Read the Join Strategic Plan.

The Painter of Light in the clink and other bizarre artist arrests

artflaw — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:32:33 +0000

Thomas Kinkade was arrested on suspicion of DUI in Carmel, CA over the weekend. The Painter of Light‘s manufacturing arm has been plagued with legal issues as of late, including filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following a $1 million judgment against it.

Flavorwire compiled a list of bizarre artist arrests, including a graffiti artist who was locked up for stealing pencils from Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy (1992) and holding them for ransom.

£500 million heist at Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris

artflaw — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:31:27 +0000

Five paintings were stolen from the Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris Thursday morning. The heist, worth upwards of £500 million, includes Pablo Picasso’s Dove with Green Peas (1912), Henri Matisse’s Pastoral (1906), Amedeo Modigliani‘s The Lady with the Fan (1919), George Braque’s The Olive Tree near Estaque (1906), and Fernand Leger’s Still Life with Chandeliers (1922). Raw footage of the aftermath and police reaction:

UPDATE: Museum officials said the paintings were worth about 100 million euros

Mexico accepts artwork as currency for settling tax debts

artflaw — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:43:41 +0000

Do you remember the scene in Pollock where he settles his grocery bill with a painting? How about stories of businesses saving Picasso’s personal checks because his signature was often worth more than the tab? It turns out that the Mexican government has had a long standing artwork-as-currency policy, at least for settling tax debts. USA Today recently ran a great piece on the practice.

Established in 1957, Mexico’s Tax Administration Service began accepting artworks and and displaying them in museums, government offices and various international exhibitions. To date, the government has amassed a collection of over 2,400 works from the likes of Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo.

Can any citizen pay their taxes with a piece of refrigerator art? No. The artist must be of recognized stature and the pieces are juried for artistic merit before being accepted. Additionally, the porgram only accepts visual art, not music or literature.

More from USA Today. Search the database of tax paying artists here.

Beatles ‘Day In The Life’ manuscript to be auctioned

artflaw — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:30:36 +0000

The handwritten lyrics to the Beatles ‘A Day In The Life,’ penned by John Lennon in 1967, are to be auctioned June 18 at Sotheby’s. The single sheet of paper, with drafts of the song on both sides, is estimated at upwards of $700,000.00.

More here.

National Gallery, London to exhibit forgeries from permanent collection

artflaw — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:17:43 +0000

The National Gallery, London will exhibit forgeries from its permanent collection. Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries “showcase[s] some of the most intriguing stories behind paintings in the Gallery, as it explores the ways in which advances in scholarship and technology can reveal the misconceptions of the past.” The exhibit runs June 30 to September 12, 2010 and features ‘works‘ by Botticelli, Raphael and Holbein, among others.

Chuck Close joins effort to block sale of the Polaroid Collection at Sotheby’s

artflaw — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:23:37 +0000

Over 1,200 works from the Polaroid Collection of Photography are headed to auction at Sotheby’s on June 21/22, 2010. The works are being liquidated by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota.

Proceeds from the auction, estimated at upwards of $11.5 million, will be paid to the creditors of the defunct Polaroid Corporation (now PBE, Corp.). PBE sought to employ Sotheby’s as consignment and sales agent and auctioneer to maximize the value of the Collection.

Artists in the Collection include Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, Chuck Close, David Hockney, David Levinthal, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Robert Rauschenberg, Lorna Simpson and more.

From Sotheby’s:

On June 21 and 22, Sotheby’s will offer at auction over 1,200 works from the Polaroid Collection of Photography, from classic pictures by Ansel Adams to cutting-edge contemporary works by Chuck Close and Lucas Samaras. Polaroid’s “instant” photography, developed by Edwin Land in the 1940’s, revolutionized picture-taking for both professionals and amateurs alike; and from its very beginning, Polaroid attracted photographers such as Adams, who were quick to seize upon the new technology’s aesthetic potential. From the 1950’s on, a whole host of artists experimented with each new Polaroid camera and film, creating a unique body of work that would officially become the Polaroid Collection of Photography…

The auction is being widely criticized for fragmenting the collection of over 24,000 objects. Many see the sale as a contravention of the original license agreements that run between artists and the Polaroid Corporation.

When Polaroid acquired works, contributing artists were required to complete the POLAROID COLLECTION RELEASE FORM, which reads: “I hereby grant to Polaroid Corporation and its companies, the worldwide non-exclusive rights for exhibition and editorial (non-commercial) publication purposes of the following images in perpetuity.”

The Art Newspaper is reporting that Chuck Close is among the 56 artists willing to be plaintiffs should a motion for a rehearing be filed. According to Close, “These were not Polaroid’s works to sell…I gave my best work to the collection because it was made clear that it was going to stay together and be given to a museum.”

More on the controversy here and here. Visit the Polaroid Collection of Photography auction site here.