At TEDxUSC 2010, Johanna Blakley, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (University of Southern California), talks about the benefits of fashion’s free culture. At the outset, Blakely notes how fashion design runs against the idea/expression dichotomy of copyright law.

Having the “broadest palette imaginable” she contends, establishes trends and allows fast fashion apparel companies like H&M, Forever 21 and Zara to bring affordable knock-offs to consumers (a target demographic that differs from high-end designers).

Interestingly, she points out that the fashion sharing model leads in gross sales compared to other heavily copyrighted intellectual property industries (e.g. film and music).

The talk follows the approval of a fashion caucus by Washington’s Committee on House Administration a few weeks back.  The group, co-chaired by Diane E. Watson (D., Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D., N.Y.), will introduce a bill that affords 3 year copyright protection to apparel designs.

While trademark law prohibits counterfeit goods, this bill seeks to curb the knock-off industry whereby a design is copied and enters the market via a competing (and often more affordable) apparel company.

More from TED.

David Byrne is suing Florida Governor Charlie Crist for copyright infringement. Crist used the Talking Heads 1985 single Road to Nowhere as part of his senatorial campaign earlier this year. The song has since been changed, but is said to have been used on the Governor’s campaign website and attack ads appearing on YouTube. Byrne retained the same attorney that represented Jackson Brown in his suit against Republican presidential candidate John McCain for unauthorized use of Running on Empty.

In a related note, Marco Rubio, Crist’s opponent in the Florida race, was asked to abstain from using the Steve Miller Band’s Take the Money and Run in his attack ads — by Steve Miller. Jacksonville.com ran a piece that included a personal note to the Rubio camp addressing the unauthorized use of Miller’s music:

It has come to my attention that Marco Rubio is using one of my songs in a campaign ad for US Senate.

The Steve Miller Band and Steve Miller do not endorse Marco Rubio’s campaign or any political candidates and respectfully request that Mr. Rubio learn more about publishing law and intellectual property rights.  I also ask that in the future he extends me the courtesy of asking permission before using my songs.

Yours,

Steve Miller

More from Billboard.

The city of Richmond, CA  has a new weapon to thwart graffiti artists, at least in theory. KTVU Channel 2 News aired the special report on Monday detailing the effort: “the Police asked KTVU not to reveal what the device looks like or how it works but said once activated, it senses when someone is tagging a nearby wall. And when it does, the gadget alerts officers to the location.” At $1,800 each, it will be interesting to see this method stands up to traditional anti-graffiti measures, such as wall coatings.

Read the report and watch the video here.

The image of a child soldier wielding a rifle was too incendiary for some in a Covington, KY neighborhood, including the business owner who sanctioned its installation. Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey installed 14 murals in the greater Cincinnati area to coincide with his solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) (Feb 14 – August 22, 2010). Unlike his typical street art, CAC put out a call for locations in an effort to promote the exhibition. The piece, entitled Duality of Humanity 4 was unceremoniously painted over late Thursday morning after drawing complaints from business owners and residents concerned for its proximity to an elementary school.

From Boing Boing. Entire story at Cincinnati.com.

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

It’s not uncommon for artists to settle disputes out of court to avoid protracted litigation. For instance, in 1980 Robert Rauschenberg settled with photographer Morton Beebe after discovering that his photograph was used in Rauschenberg’s seminal work Pull (1974). The agreement included $3,000 and a copy of the work.

Whether for financial or PR reasons, the tendency to settle stifles much needed paradigm shifts in the court system. It took the Supreme Court some 38 years (from 1956-1994) to hear whether parody has an obvious claim to transformative value in a Fair Use defense. While landmark cases are few, the following list touches on a variety of legal transgressions in the arts.

5. Serra v. U.S. General Services Administration, 847 F.2d 1045 (2d Cir. 1988).

In 1979, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) selected Richard Serra to create an outdoor sculpture for installation at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan. The sculpture was commissioned under GSA’s art-in-architecture program which mandated that one half of one percent of the construction cost of federal buildings is reserved for funding artworks by living American artists.

Serra received a fee of $175,000 for building a sculpture on Federal Plaza. The contract he entered provided that “all designs, sketches, models, and the work produced under this Agreement.. . . shall be the property of [the United States].”  Furthermore, the agreement contained no provisions restricting the Government’s use of the sculpture after it was purchased.

Tilted Arc was completed and installed at Federal Plaza in 1981. All was not well following the installation of the 120 foot long sculpture. According to the Second Circuit’s factual background,

The pigeons had barely begun to roost on “Tilted Arc” before the sculpture became the object of intense public criticism. GSA received hundreds of letters from community residents and federal employees complaining about the sculpture’s appearance and its obstruction of Federal Plaza’s previously open space.

Because the sculpture created such widespread dissent, the GSA held a public hearing on the matter. Many heralded the sculpture for its artistic merit while others bemoaned the obstruction of Federal Plaza and the sculpture’s “unappealing aesthetic qualities.” In May 1985, it was decided that Tilted Arc would be relocated.

Serra filed a lawsuit in December 1986 alleging that the GSA’s decision to remove Tilted Arc violated his rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, federal trademark and copyright laws, and state law. In addition to a declaratory judgment and an injunction against removal of the sculpture, Serra sought damages in excess of $30,000,000. The district court dismissed his suit stating  that the decision to relocate Tilted Arc was “a content-neutral determination made to further significant government interests and that the hearing provided all the process that was due.”

On appeal, Serra would challenge the rejection of his free expression claim. Unfortunately, the Second Circuit did not agree with him, holding that while private works are protected under the First Amendment, nothing in that guarantee precludes the Government from controlling its own expression or that of its agents. The court continued, “Tilted Arc is entirely owned by the Government and is displayed on Government property. Serra relinquished his own speech rights in the sculpture when he voluntarily sold it to GSA.”

On March 15, 1989, Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc was removed from 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. Just where is the sculpture today? Sold as scrap to a recycler? Chipped into bits and incorporated into a Richard Tuttle show? The answer is: None of the above. Apparently, the sculpture is languishing in a Brooklyn warehouse where it has been for the 20+ years since its removal from Lower Manhattan. According to Serra, Tilted Arc is site-specific and he will not sanction any attempts to relocate the piece.

Above all, the lesson to be learned from Serra v. U.S. General Services Administration is in the power of contract formation. When Serra entered the agreement with the GSA, he effectively relinquished control of the completed sculpture. [Read more...]

Typically, I get the news I need on the weather report, but a recent string of high ticket art sales has been difficult to ignore. I’m not sure if this is indicative of a waning recession or emblematic of the liquidity of some collectors. Maybe both, as Bloomberg notes that recent sales “reflected confidence in the economy, concern about impending inflation and the caliber of the art.”

One of Jasper Johns’ Flag paintings from the mid-1960′s sold for $28.6 million on Tuesday. The sale is a record for Johns and nearly doubled Christie’s estimate of $10 million to $15 million. From Bloomberg.

An Andy Warhol self-portrait from the collection of fashion designer/film director Tom Ford sold for a record $32.5 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday. From NYDN.

The sale of 73 works from the collection of CNET co-founder Halsey Minor reaped $37.9 million, near the middle of Phillips de Pury’s estimate of $33.4 million to $48.4 million. From NYT.

Perhaps most striking was the record toppling sale of Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932) for $106.5 million. Garnering the title of most expensive artwork ever auctioned, the piece far surpassed the Christie’s estimate of $70 million to $90 million. From NYT.

Read more about the current art market fluctuations at WSJ.

Animal reports that New York City street artist, Poster Boy, was sentenced to 11 months in jail this morning in a Brooklyn courthouse. Poster Boy, a.k.a. Henry Matyjewicz, is known for using a razor blade to mash-up subway ads.

Matyjewicz’s legal troubles began last December when he pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal mischief and sentenced to 210 hours of community service.

A video of Poster Boy from early last year:

More from Animal.