Category Archives: Copyright

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 […]

Andy Warhol decision at US Supreme Court: a whimper, not a bang

Posted on: May 22, 2023 by Alexander Herman

Pity the Andy Warhol Foundation. Not only did the Foundation have to close its associated authentication board in 2012, but now it has lost what was probably the most high-profile artistic copyright lawsuit of a generation. Although Warhol’s artworks and his brand continue to enjoy high levels of popularity and financial success, the Foundation has […]

The Vitruvian Man highlights puzzling elements of Italian cultural heritage laws

Posted on: April 24, 2023 by Chiara Gallo

The ‘Art Collection’ series of jigsaw puzzles by Ravensburger is an ever popular pastime and features many of the world’s most renowned masterpieces, from the likes of Haring and Klimt to Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci. In fact, Ravensburger’s recent reproduction of Da Vinci’s Uomo Vitruviano as one of its jigsaws has sparked a legal […]

The perpetual copyright protection of Italian cultural heritage: bypassing the public domain

Posted on: December 2, 2022 by Chiara Gallo

In recent weeks, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus appeared on the headlines of some of the most important news outlets, due to the allegedly ‘unauthorised’ commercial use of the famous masterpiece. The fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier is facing a suit for damages that could exceed £88,000 (€100,000) brought by the Uffizi, the oldest Florentine museum, […]

A North Carolina Filmmaker Continues to Challenge State Sovereign Immunity

Posted on: October 28, 2022 by Gina McKIveen

For nearly two decades, Rick Allen, an experienced underwater videographer and professional photographer, documented the retrieval and recovery process of an 18th century pirate shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina. A dispute over the copyright in the works produced between Allen and the State of North Carolina (the “State”) is now approaching its tenth […]

Copyright cases in the spotlight

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 […]

Whistler’s Woman in White through the lens of copyright history

Posted on: May 16, 2022 by Elena Cooper

In February a new exhibition opened at the Royal Academy of Arts in London about the painter and printmaker James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903): Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan, which runs until 22 May 2022, before moving to the National Gallery of Art, Washington (3 July to 22 October 2022). The centre-piece of the […]

December issue of Art Antiquity and Law out now

Posted on: January 31, 2022 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The slightly delayed December 2021 issue of Art Antiquity and Law has now gone to press and hard copies will be sent out to subscribers early next week. It contains articles on the far-reaching implications of Brexit for the cultural sector (Valentine Granet and Dr Sophie Vigneron); an examination of the changing nature of the […]

Whistler’s portrait and copyright in artistic works

Posted on: July 15, 2021 by Elena Cooper

This month sees the opening of a major new exhibition of the work of the artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) at the Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, which holds one of the largest Whistler collections in the world: Whistler: Art and Legacy (9 July-31 October 2021). In this blog, I reflect on how one painting by […]