Tag Archives: ial

2022: Year in Review

Posted on: December 19, 2022 by Alexander Herman

2022 was a year of great change, both in the world at large and for art law in particular. We saw the end of most of the worst effects of the covid pandemic, accompanied by what appears to be a final farewell to the era of lockdowns. We saw war in Europe for the first […]

NFTs as ‘property’ – in art and law

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 […]

NY Law Calls For Museum Transparency About Nazi-Loot

Posted on: August 22, 2022 by Stephanie Drawdy

From the Adirondacks to the Lower East Side, New York museums face a new legal requirement for their collections – a measure of candor about objects traded during Hitler’s terror reign. On 10 August 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a multi-faceted package of legislation “aimed at honoring and supporting Holocaust survivors”. Effective immediately, […]

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 […]

UK’s Ivory Act 2018 finally in force

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 […]

Philbrick sentenced to seven year jail term – a rogue bad apple or a pawn in an industry rotten to its core?

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 […]

NFTs as property: courts start to rein in the NFT ‘Wild West’

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 […]

Russian invasion of Ukraine and the international legal protection of cultural property

Posted on: March 3, 2022 by Alexander Herman

It has been alarming to witness the invasion by Russian troops of Ukrainian territory over the last seven days. Distressing images of the bombardment of cities, communities under siege and refugees pouring into neighbouring countries have proliferated online. The primary focus of the international community has understandably been on the protection of human life and […]

Amazing discoveries in England’s smallest county

Posted on: February 10, 2022 by Emily Gould

Last September, I had the pleasure of sharing on the blog the wonderful story of the return of a long-lost treasure to the local museum of my home county of Rutland in the UK’s East Midlands. Little did I think that less than six months later, I would again be writing about England’s smallest county, […]

Can an NFT be art? And why it matters…

Posted on: January 26, 2022 by Emily Gould

Term has started again this week for students of the Art Business and Law LLM provided by IAL in conjunction with Queen Mary, University of London. This semester, students will embark on three diverse new topics: Art and Intellectual Property, covering the intangible aspects of art; Art and Money, exploring the financial parameters of the […]