The Pitch newsletter is a monthly update of legal issues and news affecting or related to the music, film and television, fine arts, media, professional athletics, eSports, and gaming industries. The Pitch features a diverse...more
“Banksy” is the pseudonym for an England-based artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity are unconfirmed. He’s known for his artistic provocations, including a painting that started to...more
Vehicle manufactures and their ad agencies really love to show off their driving machines in action. Television commercials depict sturdy, reliable trucks hauling tons of cargo; four-wheel drive SUVs navigating perilous...more
The Cancellation Division of EUIPO has recently issued a resounding decision declaring the invalidity of the figurative trademark representing the “Flower thrower”, one of the most iconic Banksy’s mural paintings. The...more
As you may recall from our prior posts regarding the advisory jury verdict and subsequent district court ruling in the 5Pointz litigation (Cohen et al v. G&M Realty LP et al.), in 2018, Judge Block in the U.S. District Court...more
Too bad that on Oct. 5 the Supremes passed on applying a due process determination to define the “recognized stature” of art. The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”) gave visual artists limited “moral rights” in their...more
G&M Realty (G&M), the owner of the famous New York City graffiti space known as 5Pointz, asked the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), a federal copyright law that provides...more
On Monday, G&M Realty, a real estate development company, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a $6.75 million damages award that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered in favor of a group of...more
The use of copyright to protect street art is on the rise. While street artists should be aware of their rights under copyright law, building owners should also be aware that authorizing street art on their buildings without...more
Under what circumstances can a building owner legally remove artwork from a building? In 2018, a group of graffiti artists was awarded $6.75 million dollars for the improper removal of their art. On February 20, 2020, the...more
A $6.75 million judgment was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, against a developer that whitewashed 45 spray-painted artworks on its site — several months before the demolition permits were issued....more
Last week, the Second Circuit issued a landmark decision clarifying the types of work protectable under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) in Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P. The decision confirms that graffiti art is a...more
On February 20, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided Castillo v. G&M Realty L.P., holding that aerosol artwork with a short lifespan may still achieve “recognized stature” under the Visual...more
To many, the names “Rocky Balboa” and the “Italian Stallion” are as universal and front of mind as the names “Chuck Wepner” and the “Bayonne Bleeder” are regional and tucked into (or have already fallen out of or never made...more
U.S. Supreme Court Internet Sales Tax Decision and Property Values - Your editors do not need to belabor the point that brick and mortar retail occupancies, rents and values have been pounded as a result of internet...more
On September 17, 2018, Judge Steven V. Wilson of the federal court of the Central District of California ruled on General Motors’ motion for summary judgment in Falkner v. GM, a copyright action concerning graffiti artists’...more
Graffiti that appeared in a photograph on the General Motors website may be protected, a California federal court judge ruled when declining to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit against GM....more
Last month we blogged about Falkner v. General Motors Co.—a federal court action filed earlier this year that may decide whether graffiti artists can enforce their copyrights in graffiti appearing on publicly-viewable...more
Is graffiti protectable under the Copyright Act? In principle, yes because it is a graphic art. But graffiti tends to appear on buildings that are visible from a public place, and photographs of such buildings are exempt from...more