No, says a New York district court, noting that “a license or assignment in copyright can only act prospectively.”  

On a side-by-side comparison in a Rule 12(c) motion. Opinion here.

Does anyone else think it’s odd that the Walker Art Center has hired a law firm to investigate how the Walker’s executive director, Olga Viso, handled the Sam Durant fiasco? Has anyone even addressed the potential moral rights…

In recent art world news, the Peruvian consulate in New York announced earlier this week the recovery of two paintings stolen from an Andean village chapel in Peru.  An art collector based in California, in cooperation with…

In recent art world news, one of the largest art scandals in New York has come to a close with the recent settlement of the last of ten lawsuits brought against Ann Freedman, the former director of the now defunct Knoedler Gallery, that arose…

Many in the art world may not know (myself included) that the late Impressionist artist Claude Monet was a significant art collector in his lifetime.  Monet possessed numerous paintings, including masterpieces, by both his predecessors…

Sunny, a labrador retriever in training,with his Penn Vet handler duringa luggage search demonstrationToday marks the fifth anniversary of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. At a special celebration held this weekend on the campus of the…

Museums routinely and successfully protect their archaeological collections from threats of loss posed by theft, fire, natural disaster, and infrastructure failure. But do they effectively shield these collections from legal confiscation?Tom…

The Roman Libyan site of Leptis Magna.The Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) meets today to consider a request to erect American import protections on endangered cultural property from Libya.The meeting will take place today at 1…

What are “Related Goods” for the purpose of evaluating Likelihood of Confusion? Answer The leading case on evaluating likelihood of confusion is the 1973 case E. I. DuPont DeNemours & Co.   In it, the Court sets out a…

From the MN Secretary of State ### NOTICE: Owners of pre-2015 limited liability companies in Minnesota: Upcoming changes to the law will affect your business. The Office of the Secretary of State (OSS) wants to remind all limited liability…

Reprinted From Library of Congress NewsNet Issue 666, June 1, 2017 Copyright Office Releases an Updated Draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett today…

On December 16, 2016, President Obama signed the HEAR Act into law, establishing a uniform statute of limitations to govern claims seeking recovery of Nazi-confiscated art. Confiscation of art by the Nazis during World War II has been…

Effective January 1, 2017, art dealers operating in California will have a new certificate of authenticity requirement.  AB 1570, recently signed into law by Governor Brown, requires a certificate of authenticity for all autographed…

Confidentiality provisions are not a new or novel inclusion in agreements for the sale of assets, let alone the sale of artwork. However, the extremely drawn out case of Hoffman v. L&M Arts, et al, presents a rather odd view on the scope…

Dust off your collection sale check-list and add another set of boxes of bases to cover when you are contemplating the sale or exchange of artwork from your collection. Perhaps in reaction to the dreadful state of the economy, or perhaps in…

Dust off your collection sale check-list and add another set of boxes of bases to cover when you are contemplating the sale or exchange of artwork from your collection. Perhaps in reaction to the dreadful state of the economy, or perhaps in…

Recently a client of mine forwarded an email it received from a Twitter user which read in part “I have been told that your company uses the ___________ name in its ordinary course of business.  I happen to own the _____ name and would be…