Posted on: January 30, 2023 by Emily Gould
“A year of great change” was how IAL Director, Alexander Herman, described 2022 in the IAL blog’s customary review of the year. Change has certainly been no stranger to those invested in NFTs and other crypto markets over the past year or so, with prices fluctuating wildly and markets extremely volatile. The soaring prices of […]
Posted on: January 23, 2023 by Emily Gould
In an important decision handed down at the end of last year (Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Co v John Eskenazi Ltd [2022] EWHC 3023 (Comm))[1] the High Court upheld most of the claims brought by an eminent purchaser against a well-known antiquities dealer in relation to the (in)authenticity of the artefacts in question. […]
Posted on: November 5, 2022 by Emily Gould
An event held on 24th October in the inspiring surroundings of Sotheby’s Mayfair premises provided members of the IAL and friends of Sotheby’s with a fascinating insight into the challenges and opportunities involved in caring for heritage in the 21st century UK. The seminar brought together representatives from the public and private sectors to discuss […]
Posted on: October 17, 2022 by Emily Gould
Protests involving works of art and cultural property are nothing new. From the slashing of the Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery in 1914 to the defacing of a Rothko mural at Tate Modern almost a century later, those seeking to draw attention to a cause have long recognised the publicity value of attacks on […]
Posted on: September 2, 2022 by Emily Gould
While some high profile artists have been somewhat underwhelmed by the NFT phenomenon, others have been much more eager to dip their toes into NFT waters. Undeterred by naysayers such as David Hockney, who in one interview, deemed NFTs as for ‘crooks and swindlers’, artists such as Damien Hirst have embraced the new technology. Hirst’s […]
Posted on: July 1, 2022 by Emily Gould
Perhaps it’s my imagination, but the recent delivery of the IAL’s Diploma in Intellectual Property and Collections seems to have coincided with the emergence of a series of fascinating copyright cases. Each time I’ve planned to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to offer a few thoughts on one intriguing matter, another seems […]
Posted on: June 16, 2022 by Emily Gould
It’s probably fair to say that not all of our predictions for 2022 in our traditional inaugural blog post of the year have yet come to fruition – or indeed, will do so before the year is out. On one topic, however, we called it right: that this year would finally see the UK’s Ivory […]
Posted on: June 1, 2022 by Emily Gould
Art dealer turned con-artist Inigo Philbrick was sentenced last week by a US District Court to seven years behind bars. Described as “a serial swindler who took advantage of the lack of transparency in the art market” Philbrick defrauded numerous art traders, lenders and investors out of a reported US $86 million in a series […]
Posted on: May 11, 2022 by Emily Gould
The NFT space is commonly characterised as a ‘Wild West’, where anything goes and legal controls are minimal. A recent decision of the UK High Court suggests that the law’s lasso of control is at least starting to bring some order to the purported chaos. In a case involving the alleged theft of two NFTs […]
Posted on: April 4, 2022 by Emily Gould
How do we balance the need to protect our inherited past with the demands of contemporary life and the interests of future generations? Can economic imperatives align with sustainability objectives or are they destined always to conflict? These were two of the key questions addressed in the IAL’s first seminar on the theme of sustainability, […]