Latest IAL News

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 […]

Why Italy Should Allow Venice to be Put on the UNESCO List of Endangered Sites

Posted on: September 14, 2023 by Anna Somers Cocks

It is a simple truth that idealistic organisations founded by charismatic individuals, or established in response to extraordinary circumstances, decline the further that time carries them from their Big Bang of fervour and faith. Such a decline is well underway, unfortunately, with the World Heritage Sites, probably the best-known part of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, […]

Sutton Hoo Steamship Hulk Given Scheduled Monument Status

Posted on: August 31, 2023 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on the advice of Historic England, announced recently that the hulk of the nineteenth-century iron steamship, Lady Alice Kenlis, located at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk has been granted protection as a Scheduled Monument. The hulk (the term is used to describe an old ship which has been permanently […]

Western Australia Scraps Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Laws Designed to Stop ‘Another Juukan Gorge’

Posted on: August 22, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson

The State of Western Australia is repealing laws it introduced “to prevent another Juukan Gorge”, after its reforms were labelled too prescriptive, complicated and confusing. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 (WA) (2021 Act) was enacted after 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal rock shelters were controversially destroyed by Rio Tinto during a mine expansion project in 2020. […]

The Heritage Decision Lottery: Stonehenge and the M&S building

Posted on: August 14, 2023 by Rebecca Hawkes-Reynolds

The month of July saw two opposing planning decisions being made with one thing in common: their subject and focus being designated heritage assets; Stonehenge and the proposed tunnel within its vicinity and the Marks and Spencer building on Oxford Street, London. Both of them highlight the complexity of dealing with heritage assets within the […]

Implementing UNDRIP into Canadian Law

Posted on: August 7, 2023 by Olivia Shaw

A Question of Restitution Is a new wind of cultural migration blowing? Around the world, cultural artefacts are being returned from museum collections to their homelands. In particular, a growing socio-political awareness of historic wrongs has focused critical attention on the relationship anthropology and museology share with Indigenous peoples worldwide. As policies and practices on […]

Tensions Between Economic Development, Planning Controls and Protection of Archaeological Heritage: Destruction of the Megaliths at Carnac

Posted on: August 3, 2023 by Marie Cornu

Carnac is one of the most important sites for megalithic architecture, protected in large part from the end of the nineteenth century as a historic monument under the Law of 30 March 1887, the first ever legislative text to introduce a binding legal regime in the area of heritage protection. Carnac appeared on the list […]

Contested Naval Heritage: Brazen Cheek or Common Sense?

Posted on: July 24, 2023 by Paul Stevenson

Media reports in recent weeks have reminded us of a fascinating case study on contested heritage rights, shipwrecks and salvage. Vaunting a proposal to smelt down a bronze eagle which formerly adorned a Nazi warship, the President of Uruguay has found himself in the middle of a cultural heritage storm, having opined that:  “It occurred […]

21st Century “Scholar Warriors” Carry Legacy of Monuments Men & Women into Ukraine

Posted on: July 17, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy

In the last several years, the U.S. Army has been raising up a generation of modern-day “scholar warriors” to follow in the pioneering steps of WWII-era Monuments Officers. These warriors are Army Reserve Civil Affairs Soldiers who, like their predecessors, have a range of specialties that they can utilise to advance the mission of defending cultural […]

Publishing News – new journal issue and the Art Law Library

Posted on: July 7, 2023 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The July 2023 issue of Art Antiquity and Law has now been published and hard copies will be winging their way to subscribers this week. Online subscribers will be able to access it in the usual way. This issue contains a thought-provoking article by law professors Peter Cumper and Tom Lewis on the vexed issue […]