Fine art is big business. The three most expensive paintings to have ever been sold – Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, Interchange by Willem de Kooning and The Card Players by Paul Cézanne – have an inflation-adjusted...more
Way back (if we’re counting tech years) in 2014, artist Kevin McCoy (“McCoy”) created a digital record of his pulsating, octagon-shaped digital artwork Quantum on the Namecoin blockchain on May 2, 2014, thereby minting “the...more
A Dirty Business? The art world is replete with tales of whodunits, forgeries, thefts, money laundering, looting of antiquities, murders, ancient curses, etc. You might say it’s a perfect environment for the more...more
“Happy” Tax Day to those of you here in the United States celebrating/commiserating (noting of course that certain taxpayers have until May 17 to file their returns this year). Like taxes, this installment of the Spotlight...more
Welcome back and to those of you who celebrated a belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day. While I can’t promise that this installment of the Spotlight will be the “hair of the dog,” it should still make for a great accompaniment...more
Last week the Trotter chatted with her partner and fellow blog editor, Nick O’Donnell. Nick’s practice focuses primarily on complex civil litigation, for which he has appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States....more
A congressional report released on July 29, 2020, by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, exposes how Russian oligarchs looking to evade U.S. sanctions are able to exploit loopholes in the art industry....more
AT&T announced yesterday that it’s resolved an ongoing battle with activist Paul Singer and his Elliott Management by agreeing to keep CEO Randall Stephenson on the job through “at least 2020,” with the chair and CEO roles to...more
Addressing the California Resale Royalties Act (CRRA), the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court’s dismissal of a plaintiff’s CRRA claims concerning resale royalties that postdated the 1976...more
The Ninth Circuit recently was called upon to decide awarding attorney’s fees in a case where artists were suing for unpaid royalties under the California Resale Royalties Act (“CRRA”). In the case, Close v. Sotheby’s, Inc....more
For centuries, artists have been celebrated for pushing boundaries and shaping how society should view art. As members of the audience, we rely on artists to expose us to these unique dimensions of thought and we return the...more
Over eighty years after the end of World War II, crimes committed by the Nazis continue to be redressed, including in our very own Commercial Division. ...more
This case arose out of a dispute between Intervenors-Appellants Yves Bouvier and MEI Invest Ltd. (collectively, “Bouvier”) and Petitioners-Appellees Accent Delight International Ltd. and Xitrans Finance Ltd. (collectively,...more
2016 saw many notable developments in corporate governance litigation and related regulatory developments. In this article, we discuss significant judicial and regulatory developments in the following areas: Mergers...more
Confidentiality provisions are not a new or novel inclusion in agreements for the sale of assets, let alone the sale of artwork. However, the extremely drawn out case of Hoffman v. L&M Arts, et al, presents a rather odd view...more
As previously discussed on this blog, the validity of the California Resale Royalty Act (the “RRA,” Civil Code Section 986), a 1976 law that requires resellers of fine art to pay a royalty of 5 percent to the artists behind...more
Addressing the constitutionality of California’s Resale Royalty Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 986 (“the Act”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a portion of the Act violated the dormant Commerce Clause of the...more
Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Gertrud Loew was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in London last week, for over £24 million (a figure more than £6 million in excess of the upper end of its expected sale price range). Described on the...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery refuses to enjoin Sotheby’s annual meeting and allows Sotheby’s “poison pill” to protect against an activist’s proxy contest. Implications for our Clients - In a thirty year-long...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery on May 2 rejected a request by Third Point to enjoin Sotheby’s annual stockholder meeting, scheduled for May 6, because of a “poison pill” stockholder rights plan adopted by Sotheby’s board....more
William F. Ruprecht, et al., and Sotheby’s, which, in essence, recognized that a board of directors could adopt a shareholder rights plan as a reasonable response to a threat posed by an activist shareholder....more
On May 2, 2014, Vice Chancellor Donald Parsons of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a significant decision in the litigation brought by Daniel Loeb's hedge fund, Third Point LLC, challenging Sotheby's stockholder rights...more
In Third Point LLC v. Ruprecht, et al., C.A. No. 9469-VCP (Del.Ch. May 2, 2014), the Delaware Chancery Court denied a preliminary injunction challenging Sotheby’s stockholder rights plan, or so-called “poison pill,” which...more
In a May 2, 2014 ruling relating to activist hedge fund Third Point LLC’s proxy battle with auction house Sotheby’s, the Delaware Chancery Court found that Third Point was not likely to succeed in its argument that the...more
On March 25, 2014, Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC filed suit against Sotheby’s and its directors in Delaware’s Court of Chancery to invalidate Sotheby’s poison pill. The board of Sotheby’s adopted the poison pill this past...more