Tag Archives: copyright

Double Glazed: Taking Artists’ Rights Seriously and… Algorithmically

Posted on: March 4, 2024 by Chen Zhu

The Cybernetic Milkmaid What would Vermeer (1632-1675) feel if he lived until today when he suddenly discovered that his artistic style could be reproduced by state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools? How would Han van Meegeren (1889-1947), a skilful art forger who infamously fooled Nazis with his faked Old Masters’ paintings (including Vermeer’s), react to […]

A Step Toward Fencing in Aberrant Artistic Appropriation

Posted on: February 19, 2024 by Molly Stech

On 25 January, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered judgements against appropriation artist Richard Prince and his co‑defendants Laurence Gagosian, the Gagosian Gallery and Blum & Poe Gallery. The cases are Graham v. Prince et al (15 cv 10160) and McNatt v. Prince et al (16 cv 08896). […]

Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse Has Entered the Public Domain: The End of a Copyrighted Era

Posted on: February 5, 2024 by Chiara Gallo

When the clock struck midnight on the first day of 2024, one of the most anticipated Public Domain Days was finally reached and the first iteration of Mickey Mouse was released into the public domain in the US. This meant that, after 95 years and several changes in the US copyright regime, the first ever […]

Important UK Copyright Case on ‘Originality’ Standard

Posted on: January 23, 2024 by Emily Gould

A recent decision by the Court of Appeal in London, handed down in November 2023, has triggered a stream of comment and debate among scholars and art historians. The case of THJ v Sheridan does not, at first glance, appear to have much at all to do with the arts sector, involving, as it did, […]

Art Antiquity and Law – December Issue

Posted on: January 4, 2024 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

Hard copies of the final issue of 2023 Art Antiquity and Law should be arriving with subscribers very soon – online subscribers should be able to access it shortly. In this issue we have an analysis of ‘Resale Restrictions in the Contemporary Art Market’: Aaron Taylor (Barrister, Fountain Court Chambers; Visiting Research Fellow, Goldsmiths, University […]

The Smart Fund: How Digital Devices Can Pay Back Artists While Supporting the UK’s Creative Industry

Posted on: November 27, 2023 by Laura Villarraga Albino

A few weeks ago, the UK’s cultural industry organisations presented evidence to Parliament regarding the challenges faced by creators and performers in receiving fair compensation and, most importantly, the relevance of the Smart Fund. The initiative seeks to ensure fair remuneration to creators for the access, distribution and storage of their work on digital devices. […]

Seminar Report on Art Law Unveiled: Navigating Modern and Contemporary Art Transactions, 9 November

Posted on: November 20, 2023 by Laura Villarraga Albino

Two weeks ago, the Institute of Art and Law and Wedlake Bell jointly hosted the seminar “Art Law Unveiled: Navigating Modern and Contemporary Art Transactions”. Legal issues surrounding this area were addressed, providing a high-level forum for discussing practical issues, such as art contracts, artists’ representation, the authentication of artworks and the role of collective […]

Munich Regional Court Makes Decision on Joint Authorship of “Paris Bar” Works

Posted on: November 13, 2023 by Adrienne Bauer

The Paris Bar in Berlin’s Kantstraße is a traditional meeting place for the arts and culture scene of the German capital and a true institution. Three paintings depicting this very bar have now become the subject of an interesting copyright decision by the Munich Regional Court. Specifically, it concerns the works “Paris Bar (Version 1-3)” […]

US Copyright Requirement for ‘Human Authorship’ Enforced in AI Test Case – But that “Bedrock” May Be Changing

Posted on: September 22, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy

Neither the US Constitution nor the US Copyright Act mandates ‘human authorship’ for copyright. Yet, the US Copyright Office (USCO) has come out strong in its requirement of the human element, denying registration to computer-generated work on that basis and even winning summary judgment in a federal case related to one such denial. Why then […]

Pending AI Suits in the US: Frivolous or Crucial?

Posted on: June 9, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy

The US Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law held a hearing in May 2023 on “Oversight of AI: Rules for Artificial Intelligence”. During that hearing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified about the myriad of issues raised by generative AI. Certainly content creators/owners “need to benefit from this technology”, Altman offered. But […]