Category Archives: Art Market

Can an NFT be art? And why it matters…

Posted on: January 26, 2022 by Emily Gould

Term has started again this week for students of the Art Business and Law LLM provided by IAL in conjunction with Queen Mary, University of London. This semester, students will embark on three diverse new topics: Art and Intellectual Property, covering the intangible aspects of art; Art and Money, exploring the financial parameters of the […]

Michael Steinhardt’s antiquities and the legal/moral divide

Posted on: December 9, 2021 by Alexander Herman

Collector Michael Steinhardt has been in the news this week, and not for the right reasons. On Monday, an agreement was announced whereby the New York DA’s Office would not prosecute Steinhardt for acquiring looted antiquities and, in exchange, Steinhardt would surrender 180 such artefacts to the DA, and these will soon (one hopes) be […]

New guidance from UK Government on money laundering risks for the art trade

Posted on: July 20, 2021 by Emily Gould and Alyssa Weitkamp

On 28th June, the UK Government published further guidance on the application of anti-money laundering (AML) rules to the UK art trade. As many readers will be aware, since January 2020, anti-money laundering regulations have applied to art market participants, or AMPs (traders or intermediaries involved in the sale or purchase of works of art […]

NFTs – contemplating copyright and contract conundrums (part II)

Posted on: June 2, 2021 by Emily Gould

In our post last week, we explored some of the copyright issues raised by recent stories from the world of NFTs. Today, we turn our focus to matters of contract law. How can we address the challenges posed by contractual mechanisms unfamiliar to many in the art world? And where we might look for answers […]

NFTs – contemplating copyright and contract conundrums (part I)

Posted on: May 28, 2021 by Emily Gould

It hardly seems possible that the now world-famous sale of Beeple’s ‘Everydays’ NFT at the eyewatering price of $69 million happened less than three months ago. The sale was still underway when we first offered a few thoughts on the explosion of NFTs onto the mainstream art market. Bidding was at what now feels like […]

NFTs – a flash in the pan or a sign of things to come?

Posted on: March 9, 2021 by Emily Gould

Another week, another acronym for the art world. In the past year or so, whilst many AMPs (art market professionals) have grappled with getting to KYC (know your customer) in compliance with new AML (anti money-laundering) rules, they have also been faced with moving from the bustling world of art fairs and high street galleries […]

Report on latest study forum

Posted on: February 10, 2021 by Georgiana Stables

On Saturday 6th February, we hosted our second virtual study forum. It was a full day of captivating and perceptive talks by a range of speakers within the art law field. To kick-start the day, Dr Donna Yates (Associate Professor, Maastricht University) spoke about a Cambodian sculpture stolen from Koh Ker during the Cambodian Civil […]

U.S. financial crime regulations now reach antiquities trade and beyond

Posted on: February 1, 2021 by Stephanie Drawdy

A new year has swept in, bringing with it an expansion of U.S. federal anti-corruption / anti-money laundering laws. On 1 January 2021, America’s annual defense budget known as H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), became law. The wide-reaching and significant reforms included in the NDAA range from corporate […]

Lights out for Fairlight – Court of Appeal upholds High Court decision in dispute over alleged Frans Hals painting

Posted on: December 14, 2020 by Emily Gould

An intriguing and long-running saga involving an alleged Old Master painting, a London art dealer, a US investor and an international auction house appears to have reached its conclusion. For those following the case of Sotheby’s v Weiss Limited and Fairlight Art Ventures LLP, with all its twists and turns, the latest (and possibly the […]

High Court orders London gallery to provide information about stolen Signac

Posted on: November 3, 2020 by Michael Bowmer

A Norwich Pharmacal order was recently made against a London gallery requiring it to disclose information concerning a painting which the claimant contended had been stolen from her. In doing so the court refused to accept the argument on behalf of the gallery that no order should be made on account of the custom and […]