Why Can't I Clean the Graffiti Off My Walls? — No Infringement Intended Podcast
Key Takeaways - Damages awards for Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) violations are not precluded by copyright infringement damages awards. The plaintiff’s VARA award was in addition to an award of actual damages for...more
Clover, SC — Shumaker has achieved a federal victory for artistic integrity, with a judge awarding a Clover, S.C. artist $158,400, including maximum Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) damages, in a case reaffirming the power of...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
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
• From Miami's Wynwood to San Francisco's Mission District to Chicago's West Loop, graffiti/street art has become a popular way for communities to revitalize neighborhoods and property owners to reap the benefits of the...more
In recent art world news, last week a federal district court in New York ruled the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”), a federal law protecting visual artwork from destruction, covered the graffiti artists’ aerosol...more
After a recent discussion about whether the new Fearless Girl sculpture by Kristen Visbal in Lower Manhattan might implicate the copyright of the earlier Charging Bull sculpture that has been there for nearly three decades,...more
Artist Peter Doig, whose pieces regularly sell for $10 million, is currently entangled in a rare and rather odd lawsuit, which involves a work Doig denies he created. While disputes of the authenticity of pieces of artwork...more