Over 1,200 works from the Polaroid Collection of Photography headed to auction at Sotheby’s on June 21/22, 2010. The sale, by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota, was widely criticized for fragmenting the collection of over 24,000 objects.

Despite the controversy, the works surpassed their pre-sale estimate, garnering $12.4 million. The auction follows a trend in art sales — swelling prices and smashing records.

14 artist records were set, including Chuck Close, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Ansel Adams, among others.

More from Reuters.

Walking On Eggshells is a project by Jacob Albert, Ryan Beauchamp and Brendan Schlagel for the seminar Intellectual Property in the Digital Age at Yale University. From the filmmakers:

Walking on Eggshells is a 24-minute documentary about appropriation, creative influence, re-use and intellectual property in the remix age. It is a conversation among various musicians, visual artists, writers and lawyers, all sharing their views on why and how we use and create culture, and how intellectual property law, originally designed to provide people with incentives to create, sometimes hinders creative production far more than it enhances it.

The film features interviews with DJ Earworm (Jordan Roseman), Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Lethem, and Joy Garnett, among others.

Walking on Eggshells: Borrowing Culture in the Remix Age from Brendan Schlagel on Vimeo.

[via BoingBoing/NewsGrist]

Michael Jackson musical blocked by estate

Broadway producer Nederlander filed a suit against the estate of Michael Jackson claiming the estate won’t clear the right to use songs, including Beat It, Billie Jean, and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin. From TMZ.

ASCAP files 21 scattershot copyright lawsuits

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) filed suit against 21 bars, nightclubs and restaurants across the country. In a press release, the performing rights group stated:

In each of the cases filed today, the business or establishment has either publicly performed the copyrighted musical works of ASCAP’s songwriter, composer and music publisher members without obtaining a license from ASCAP to do so, or had signed a license agreement with ASCAP but failed to comply with the license’s payment terms. In every instance, the establishment refused to obtain a license or pay the fees owed under the license, but continued to perform ASCAP members’ music without permission, resulting in the filing of the infringement actions.

From NYT.

Bollywood director miffed by lawmaker piracy

Legislators from India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to screen director Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti (“Politics”). Instead of approaching the filmmaker for a copy (unavailable on DVD), BJP members pirated a copy and showed the movie during a party meeting — infuriating Jha. From TorrentFreak.

Nature sound recordist Martyn Stewart sued Apple Inc. and application developer Mitch Waite on Friday, alleging copyright infringement for use of his recordings in iBird.

iBird, available from the Apple App Store in a variety of editions, provides an interactive field guide for novice and expert birders. Awarded Best Reference App by Macworld (2009), iBird is also featured in an Apple TV commercial (below).

Stewart has over 35 years of experience recording nature. His website offers a variety of licenses for use of his digital recordings, ranging from Single Use ($20.00/file) to Unlimited Use ($95.00/file).

According to The Loop, Waite attempted to license Stewart’s recordings as early as 2007. An agreement could not be reached, however, and instead Waite gave Stewart credit as “Recordist.”

Slicing Up Eyeballs reports that a musical featuring the songs of Depeche Mode has been canceled. Titled Playing the Angel, the production was slated to begin open auditions June 27th.

Unifaun, the theater company behind the play, hoped to bring it to MITP theatre in Valletta, Malta early next year. The Playing the Angel website describes the project:

This musical is a coming-of-age story of two 15 year old boys, Dave and Andy, as they grow up and learn to deal with life, sexuality, addiction and relationships. It is set to feature such hits as Just can’t get enough, Personal Jesus, It’s no good and Everything counts.

The Times of Malta reported earlier that writer Adrian Buckle attempted to secure the rights to use Depeche Mode songs through EMI and the band’s manager, J. D. Fenger. Buckle recently responded to a thread on the official Depeche Mode forum stating, “…it was brought to my attention that we had not acquired permission to use the songs through the correct channels.”

More on the production from NME.

Japanese far right blocks dolphin hunting documentary

“Noisy rallies, online slanders, intimidating phone calls and veiled threats of violence” are compelling theaters into canceling showings of The Cove. The documentary depicts dolphin hunting and warns of high levels of mercury in fish — “a disturbing disclosure in this seafood-loving nation.” From NYT.

Google backs down a record label lawsuit

After trading lawsuits with Blues Destiny Records, Google has withdrawn from the pursuit of a declaratory judgment that it’s not infringing the label’s copyrights. Blues Destiny sued Google in 2009, alleging that the search engine facilities copyright infringement by linking to songs on Rapidshare.  The label has agreed not to pursue any past actions against the search giant. From THR, Esq.

Profile of an art sleuth

Described as “Art Crime’s Avenger” by the Art Market Monitor, former FBI agent Robert K. Wittman is profiled in His Heart Is in the Art of Sleuthing. The New York Times details Wittman’s 15 years at the helm of the Bureau’s Art Crime Team. From NYT. [via The Art Law Blog]

Long before Josh Brolin played Jonah Hex on the big screen, the grisly bounty hunter graced the pages of DC Comics. In 1995, Hex appeared in Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such (Volumes #1-5). The third volume of the series ends with a reference to the Autumn brothers, with the teaser, “Next: The Autumns of Our Discontent.”

The Autumn brothers — pale-faced, half-worm, half-human villains named Johnny and Edgar — were gunned down in Volume #5. For them, the battle was lost, but for plaintiffs, Johnny and Edgar Winter (Winter brothers), it had just begun…

Miffed that DC Comics portrayed them as “vile, depraved, stupid, cowardly, subhuman individuals who engage in wanton acts of violence, murder and bestiality for pleasure and who should be killed,” the Winter brothers sued DC and the creators of Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such for appropriation of their names and likenesses under CA Civil Code section 3344 (right of publicity), among others.

CA Code § 3344 states, in part:

(a)Any person who knowingly uses another’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods or services, without such person’s prior consent [...] shall be liable for any damages sustained by the person or persons injured as a result thereof.

The suit careened around the courts, finally coming to rest in the Supreme Court of California — charged with the task of balancing the right of publicity against expression under the First Amendment. To that end, the court implemented a test based on whether the work in question adds significant creative elements so as to be transformed into something more than a mere celebrity likeness or imitation. [Read more...]

The Onion reports that Rose Biggin, an 89-year-old grandmother from the Camden Town neighborhood of North London, revealed that she is renowned street artist Banksy. At a press conference Tuesday Biggin stated, “Those drawings? Oh, yes, those are mine [...] It sure does help to pass the time,” then returned home to “plan[] the necessary destruction of dominant capitalist paradigms.” Finally, the speculation can be put to rest.