Latest IAL News

Will the Real Banksy Please Stand Up!

Posted on: March 18, 2024 by Emily Gould

We know him so well, and yet we know him not at all. Banksy’s iconic images, his famous pranks and his politically-inspired street art are known the world over, yet he remains a shadowy enigma. Operating through the company Pest Control, the person (or persons) behind the Banksy brand have successfully maintained their anonymity over […]

What Next for the Stonehenge Tunnel Scheme?

Posted on: March 11, 2024 by Rebecca Hawkes-Reynolds

Stonehenge has been a permanent feature and place-marker on the landscape in Wiltshire for thousands of years. It has also a been a semi-permanent feature of headlines and as a topic on this blog. However this may soon no longer be the case, as  Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) have had their application for […]

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). […]

Bonaire v. Netherlands: Climate Change Impacts on Island Communities’ Cultural Heritage Before Dutch Courts

Posted on: February 12, 2024 by Alina Holzhausen

Seven residents and Dutch nationals of Bonaire, a Dutch special municipality in the southern Caribbean, have launched, together with Greenpeace Netherlands, a legal action against the Dutch government over its failure to protect the Islanders against climate change impacts. Based on the right to life (Article 2) and the right to respect for private and […]

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 […]

Art Authentication: Interview with Denis Moiseev of Hephaestus Analytical

Posted on: January 29, 2024 by agata.becker

Art transactions continue to be plagued by forgeries, and trust alone among the various players is not sufficient to prevent damage to the market. Art authentication has always been a critical aspect of the art world, but it can often be unclear and confusing, as determining provenance and legitimacy are constant concerns. Recently, we at […]

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, […]

Pissarro Painting Sold Under Nazi Duress Awarded to Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation

Posted on: January 17, 2024 by Nicholas M. O'Donnell

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on 9 January, 2024 that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (TBC) Foundation in Madrid is the owner of Rue Saint–Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie by Camille Pissarro, a painting sold by German Jew Lilly Cassirer under Nazi duress. After the Cassirer family prevailed in the Supreme Court in […]

The Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art: The Next 25 Years

Posted on: January 14, 2024 by Matthias Weller

A number of events and presentations marked the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. Among these were “Marking 25 Years of the Washington Principles – Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art“ at the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of German-Jewish History and Culture at New York on 3 December 2023, but also, for […]