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The Art Law Report Providing timely updates and commentary on legal issues in the museum and visual arts communities

Monthly Archives: January 2013

New York Court of Appeals to Address Jenack Decision Requiring Disclosure of Consignment Seller’s Identity to Enforce Sale Contract

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Consignment

There is a new development in the decision last fall in which the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court ruled that an auctioneer must disclose the name of any owner who has consigned the work for sale, or a sale against a successful bidder cannot be enforced consistent with New York General Obligations… Continue Reading

Russia Swiftly Lashes Out At Sanctions Concerning Schneerson/Chabad Library, U.S. Government Still Silent

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Cultural Property, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Restitution, World War II

Despite refusing to participate in a lawsuit for nearly three years since a judgment that ordered the return to the Chabad Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn of the late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson’s library, the Russian Federation swiftly spoke up when news came of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s order yesterday sanctioning and… Continue Reading

Russia Sanctioned $50,000 per day for Defiance of Chabad Library Judgment that Led to Art and Cultural Loan Embargo

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Cultural Property, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Restitution, World War II

In a case that has tested the principles of how a defiant sovereign defendant can be compelled to comply with a court order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has taken an emphatic step in an order issued today.  The Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications, the Russian… Continue Reading

“Clark Rockefeller” Picture Ruling Addresses Copyrightable Elements of News Photographs

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Copyright

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has decided a copyright case that addresses the important elements of what constitutes an expressive work capable of protection.  The lines of what can be protected in news photography may not be as simple as the First Circuit opinion suggests.  In 2008 the bizarre case of Christian Gerhartsreiter—a man… Continue Reading

Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Unexpectedly Dies in Committee

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212

Senate Bill 2212, previously passed by the House of Representatives, seemed to be gathering steam as 2012 came to a close.  In November and December bipartisan sponsors were signing on, with no publicly-known opposition as it waited for a Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing. Yet the New Year has come and gone—and with it… Continue Reading