Latest IAL News

One year after the Sarr-Savoy report, France has lost its momentum in the restitution debate

Posted on: November 15, 2019 by Alexander Herman

The following commentary first appeared in The Art Newspaper print edition (November 2019) and on The Art Newspaper website on 12 November 2019. A year ago this month, authors Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy submitted their controversial report to French President Emanuel Macron. The report recommended the return of a vast number of Sub-Saharan African artefacts currently in […]

US charges added to dealer Kapoor’s rap sheet

Posted on: November 12, 2019 by Adele Harrison

In the 1891 story A Case of Identity, Sherlock Holmes cracked another mystery in his careful examination of evidence emanating from a typewriter. Now, over 120 years later, investigators in New York  have relied on similar skills to expose one of the largest art looting conspiracies of all time.  It was at the office of […]

To quote or not to quote – that is the question

Posted on: November 7, 2019 by Alexander Herman

As those who have followed our courses (especially our IP Diploma) will know, a big fanfare is often made about the possibilities of the ‘quotation’ exception introduced into UK copyright law five years ago. For institutions that are often users of copyright-protected material, like museums, galleries, archives and libraries, the new exception came with a […]

Collaboration thrives in the Nordic region

Posted on: November 5, 2019 by Emily Gould

The IAL was delighted to be invited to share some thoughts on current issues in art and cultural heritage law with museum professionals from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in the bi-annual Nordic Registrars’ Group meeting. The conference was held last month, on October 22nd and 23rd in the inspiring surroundings of ARoS Art Museum […]

Fraudulent art investment companies wound up by the High Court

Posted on: November 1, 2019 by Charlotte Dunn

Earlier this month, the High Court in Manchester wound up two companies which had received just under £1million from investors, between October 2018 and June 2019, as part of a fraudulent art investment scheme. The two companies involved were Gem Tobin Ltd, located in Cheshire, and Dionysus Design Services Ltd, located in York. The court’s […]

Recent IAL training: British Museum, Oxford and Qatar

Posted on: October 29, 2019 by Alexander Herman

The past month has been a busy one at the IAL. Not only did we run our annual Diploma in Law and Collections Management in London and a Saturday Study Forum, but we also provided a series of in-house training sessions in the UK and Qatar. We began developing these sessions over the last year […]

Da Vinci show opens at the Louvre after latest loan issue resolved

Posted on: October 25, 2019 by Charlotte Dunn

This week, the Louvre’s highly anticipated Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death, opened its doors to the public. However, the process of negotiating the necessary loan agreements with Italy has been complex and controversial. Just days before opening, the loan of one of Da Vinci’s most famous works, the […]

New issue of IAL’s Art Antiquity and Law journal just released

Posted on: October 24, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

Marking the beginning of a new academic year, the latest issue of Art Antiquity & Law, IAL’s quarterly journal, is hot off the press and brings a number of articles ranging from topics such as musical instruments and their legal framework to arbitration, art theft, export of cultural goods and the repatriation claims for the […]

The Royal Shakespeare Company severed its ties with British Petroleum

Posted on: October 18, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

As London is once more taken over by climate change protests, a recent news story from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) serves as yet another (very timely) reminder that the arts and cultural sector can no longer remain isolated from the climate change debate, as we have previously discussed here. Just days before Extinction Rebellion’s […]

Updates from the most recent IAL Study Forum

Posted on: October 16, 2019 by Charlotte Dunn

We were delighted to welcome attendees from far and wide to the latest IAL Study Forum, held on the 12th October 2019. Speakers with expertise from across the legal and art spheres, with backgrounds ranging from museum work to auction houses covered a correspondingly broad range of topics. Lisette Aguilar (Keystone Law, former Associate General […]