Law Hermès Is Suing a Digital Artist for Selling Unauthorized Birkin Bag NFTs in the Metaverse for as Much as Six Figures Hermès says the artist, who goes by the name Mason Rothschild, is “digital speculator who is seeking to get rich quick." By Taylor Dafoe, Jan 26, 2022
Law Robert Indiana’s Lawyer, Accused of Overpaying Himself by Millions, Has Reached a Settlement With the Artist’s Estate The attorney general of Maine, where Indiana died in 2018, ordered the artist’s lawyer to pay back $3.7 million to his estate last year. By Taylor Dafoe, Jan 26, 2022
Law Ousted Director Nathalie Bondil Has Settled With the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Ending Her Wrongful Termination Lawsuit The former museum director had accused her former employer of libel. By Sarah Cascone, Jan 19, 2022
Law ‘Can Everyone Agree This Is a Beautiful Painting?’: A Divided U.S. Supreme Court Reviews a Rare Art Case Over a Nazi-Looted Pissarro David Boies, a leading civil litigator, argued for the painting's return. By Sarah Cascone, Jan 19, 2022
Law A Bombshell Lawsuit Between Two Collectors Exposes How Far Some Will Go to Get Access to the Art They Want Collectors Michael Xufu Huang and Federico Castro Debernardi have settled their lawsuit, but not before revealing the market's inner workings. By Eileen Kinsella, Jan 12, 2022
Law The ‘Colston Four,’ Who Toppled a Statue of a U.K. Slave Trader Last Year, Have Been Cleared of Criminal Charges Banksy helped fundraise for the activists' legal defense. By Sarah Cascone, Jan 5, 2022
Law A Court Dismissed the Lawsuit Against Nirvana Brought by the Former Baby Who Appeared on the ‘Nevermind’ Cover Spencer Elden—now an artist who interned for Shepard Fairey—now has 11 days to refile the lawsuit. By Taylor Dafoe, Jan 4, 2022
Law Virginia Has Finally Identified a New Home for Its Confederate Statues: the Local Black History Museum Nine statues, including one of General Robert E. Lee, are part of the proposal. By Taylor Dafoe, Jan 3, 2022
Law The E.U. Has Beefed Up Its Anti-Ivory Regulations, Banning Outright the Trade of Raw Animal Tusks The resolution, set to go into effect in January, will task each EU member state with policing the regulation in its own way. By Taylor Dafoe, Dec 21, 2021
Law The U.S. Supreme Court Will Offer the Final Word in a Two-Decade Battle Over a Nazi-Looted Pissarro Painting No one denies that the artwork was stolen, but two lower courts have ruled against restitution of the painting. By Sarah Cascone, Dec 20, 2021
Law A Federal Judge Has Overturned Purdue Pharma’s Highly Contested Oxycontin Settlement Critics who felt the original deal fell short of real justice have called the development a "seismic victory." By Amah-Rose Abrams, Dec 17, 2021
Law TeamLab Wins Its Lawsuit Against a Chinese Company That Replicated One of the Collective’s Immersive Art Experiences The rival company was even using the TeamLab name in its promotion. By Amah-Rose Abrams, Dec 16, 2021
Law FBI Agents Descend on Palm Beach’s Upscale Worth Avenue in a Late-Morning Raid of the Gallery Danieli Fine Art Art dealers and other business owners watched with interest as FBI and IRS agents papered over the gallery windows. By Eileen Kinsella & Katya Kazakina, Dec 15, 2021
Law An Explosive Legal Filing Says a Publisher Hid or Forged Thousands of Robert Indiana Artworks and Documents All of this is “just the tip of the iceberg,” the foundation says. By Eileen Kinsella, Dec 14, 2021
Law Two Washington Artists Have Been Charged With Faking Native American Identities to Sell Their Wares in Galleries Claiming to be tribal members, the two men separately sold masks, totem poles, and pendants at art galleries in downtown Seattle. By Taylor Dafoe, Dec 14, 2021