Tag Archives: artist

Copyright in America

Posted on: April 20, 2021 by Alexander Herman

Every so often, we take a peek at the copyright situation in the USA. There are many reasons for this. Stateside, art and copyright cases are more plentiful than in the UK (and much of the world), perhaps because there is more at stake financially or simply because the culture is more litigious. Additionally, the […]

Ticking Away: Christian Marclay’s The Clock and Copyright Law

Posted on: September 12, 2018 by Alexander Herman

A stern-looking man with a gun turns towards a metallic device mounted on the wall. He places one hand on the device’s handle and checks his watch. It is 12.04. Next we see an analogue clock hanging above a presenter reading the BBC radio news into a microphone. The time on the clock reads 12.05. […]

Charging Bull, Fearless Girl and comparative moral rights

Posted on: April 25, 2017 by Alexander Herman

A story has been brewing over the past few weeks involving the famed Charging Bull sculpture that sits in the middle of Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan. The sculpture was made by Arturo di Modica and installed without permission near Wall St as a Christmas gift from the artist to New Yorkers in December 1989. […]

Upcoming event on artists, law and legacies

Posted on: October 24, 2016 by Alexander Herman

We are proud to be offering an event with Boodle Hatfield LLP in London on Thursday, 17th November. The afternoon event, entitled ‘Artists, Their Work and Their Legacies: The Legal Issues of Managing an Artistic Oeuvre‘, will focus on three main areas: protecting an artist’s work, the appropriation of street art and managing an artist’s estate. […]

Artists, joint authorship and the failure of a contract

Posted on: November 13, 2015 by Alexander Herman

A trial is set to commence in Amsterdam later this month pitting two great performance artists against one another. They are former collaborators (and one-time lovers) Marina Abramovic and “Ulay”, who after breaking up romantically and creatively in 1988, entered into an agreement regarding those works they had created together during their partnership. But Ulay isn’t […]

A Spanish Tug-of-War

Posted on: May 8, 2015 by Alexander Herman

An interesting recent article in the New York Times recounts the struggle between two Spanish Museums over the right to display four paintings, including two masterpieces of European art (Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and Rogier van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross). The works have been held at the Prado Museum in Madrid since being sent […]

New ‘fair use’ guide for artists, art historians and art critics

Posted on: March 4, 2015 by Alexander Herman

For those intrigued, perplexed or in need of a practical guide on how to deal with that beast known as the ‘fair use’ exception in US copyright law, look no further. The College Art Association, the professional body of those who work in art, art history and art criticism in the United States, has just released its long […]

‘Yes, but is it good for artists?’ New copyright exceptions in UK law

Posted on: September 29, 2014 by Alexander Herman

This is a big week for copyright exceptions in UK law. Wednesday will see enter into force no less than three exceptions making permissible use of copyright material that otherwise would be considered infringement. These will effectively expand the ways in which users of copyright material can make use of that material. The first of these […]

Rauschenberg Trustees await verdict on $60 million claim

Posted on: August 13, 2014 by Zehrah Hasan

Three Trustees of the Rauschenberg Revocable Trust await a decision in Florida as to whether they should receive $60 million for their “extraordinary services” to the estate of the late painter and graphic artist Robert Rauschenberg. Bennet Grutman, Rauschenberg’s accountant, Darryl Pottorf, his companion and will executor, and Bill Goldston, his publishing partner in a […]