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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: August 2013

Revival of the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act?

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

The Holocaust Art Restitution Project reports today that a new version of Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act that would have amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to preclude claims against defendants whose “commercial activity” is limited to the loan of artwork whose ownership is in dispute, but which are… Continue Reading

Fair Use and DMCA Take Down—Lawrence Lessig Sues Over YouTube Use of “Lisztomania”

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Copyright, Fair Use

One of the lurking issues in the murky waters of copyright fair use is the takedown notice provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”).  The DMCA, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 512, implements two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization treaties and absolves internet service providers (“ISPs”) who disable allegedly infringing content… Continue Reading

Dispute of Fact or Statement of Foreign Policy? Ninth Circuit Takes up the Question of U.S. Courts’ Role in Assessing Foreign Art Restitution Procedures

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument last week in two high-profile World War II art restitution claims, Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art, and Cassirer v. Kingdom of Spain.  The Supreme Court’s previous decision not to hear earlier appeals of those cases with regard to statutes of… Continue Reading

ARCA Recaps Fifth Annual Art Crime Conference

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Cultural Property, Events

The blog of ARCA, the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, has been running a series of recaps of the June conference in Amelia, Italy at which I was a presenter this past year.  The summary of my panel is here (which also included Jerker Rydén and Joris Kila), moderated by Judge Arthur Tompkins, a… Continue Reading

Salon Piece Confirms Primacy of State Law in Detroit Bankruptcy Dispute

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Bankruptcy, Collections, Detroit Bankruptcy

Professor Adam J. Levitin of Georgetown has an excellent piece in Salon this week that adds to what I like to call the sober group of discussions about the Detroit Institute of Art collection  in the context of the City of Detroit Bankruptcy.  From a learned perspective, Professor Levitin echoes some of the themes we’ve… Continue Reading

A Primer on Transformativeness: Green Day Proves Fair Use of Image in Concert Video

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Copyright, Fair Use

The Ninth Circuit has ruled in favor of the band Green Day in a copyright case that gives much better guidance on fair use and transformativeness than this year’s earlier Prince v. Cariou Second Circuit case.  Despite copying an entire image, in the backdrop of a video that showed onstage at a multi-million dollar concert tour,… Continue Reading

Does The Art World Have a Russia Problem?

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Uncategorized

Several overlapping issues in recent months have turned what was an awkward elephant in the room into a major issue facing the art world today.  Namely: the increasing role that Russia is playing in restitution, loans and exhibition controversies has aggregated to Vladimir Putin an extraordinary amount of influence over these major international legal issues. … Continue Reading

City of Detroit Hires Christie’s to Appraise Detroit Institute of Arts Collection

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Collections, Detroit Bankruptcy, Museums

In connection with the Detroit bankruptcy, auction house Christie’s announced on Monday that it has been hired to “assist and advise on how to realize value for the city while leaving the art in the city’s ownership.”  According to the Christie’s press release, the auction house was hired by the City of Detroit itself, which has… Continue Reading

Detroit Institute of Arts Deaccessioning: Municipal Bankruptcy, Existing and Proposed Changes to Michigan Law Affect Debate

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Bankruptcy, Collections, Deaccession, Legislation, Museums

An important qualifier to the discussion about deaccessioning and the Detroit Institute of Arts is that although DIA is a subdivision of the bankruptcy debtor (Detroit), that debtor is not any old commercial entity.  Rather, Detroit is a municipality, and municipal and state debtors are governed by slightly different rules than private parties.  The underlying… Continue Reading

Detroit Institute of Arts and Motor City Bankruptcy: Deaccessioning Fact and Fiction, Hope and Reality

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Collections, Deaccession

The recent filing by the City of Detroit for bankruptcy—the largest such municipal filing in history—has brought with it an unexpected art law twist.  Namely: to what extent can, or should the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts be used to satisfy the city’s creditors.  As one might expect, the differences between what the… Continue Reading