Via Courthouse News Service.

Via The Art Newspaper.

Copyright Alberto Díaz "Korda"Gutiérrez. Photo taken in 1960.

I’ve written before on the interesting dynamic between artists who profess “free culture” ideologies and artists that champion the protection of their copyright and trademarks (What do artists want?). One thing I didn’t note in that article was how copyright may be used by artists as a way of protecting the context (and thus content) of their images and work.

This question has come up a few times recently, usually framed as such, “Do artists sue for copyright infringement when their work is being used in a way not consistent with the artist’s intent or, when the artist’s work is being used without permission regardless of context but generating revenue?” There are obviously many variations to this answer.  Although the First Amendment (free speech clause) in the U.S. guards against the refusal to allow the use of copyrighted work for certain reasons (criticism, commentary, newsworthy purpose), it is becoming more frequent for artists to sue other artists (and non-artists) when their copyrighted work is being used in a manner inconsistent with the artists intent, and thus . In this case, the artist simply seeks an injunction to stop the use of her/him image rather than seeking monetary compensation.

Interestingly enough, I was discussing this issue yesterday with a friend, and this morning she sends me an article from The Guardian that bridges these two positions.  The article concerns this 1960 image of Che Guevara, shot by photographer Alberto Díaz “Korda”Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez regained the copyright to this image in 2001, in a copyright lawsuit against Smirnoff Vodka (and which had Korda donating the monetary award to children’s health care in Cuba). According to interviews, Korda worried that the image of Che Guevara, who did not drink, was being trivialized by its use in promoting an alcoholic beverage that bore no relation to Cuba or his political message (including the French group, Reporters Without Borders). Since then his daughter, Diana Diaz, has consistently used copyright litigation to protect the image from “political misuse.” The monies gained by copyright infringement victories help pay for lawyers who litigate to protect the contexts of this image.

Keep in mind that for quite some time Cuba did not recognize copyrights (”derecho de autor”). In 1976 Cuba drafted its Copyright Act which became effective in 1977 (amended 1994) and joined the Berne Convention in 1997. These two documents are in fact remarkably fascinating. I’ll be translating these to English soon and making them available on this site.

As a scholar of art and film history, I believe that my close and exclusive cooperation with Warhol gives me the authority and the right to make official and public statements about the authenticity of the artist’s conceptual intentions and his technique of art-making[.] …I was shocked and appalled to learn how the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (est. 1987) and the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. (est. 1995) are operating blatantly for their own self-interested purposes, ignoring by doing so Warhol’s artistic innovations, which are unique in the history of Western art since the Renaissance. … Irritating—how history can be distorted by pure and plain commercial interests!

The entire letter may be accessed here.  Thanks to Jane for sending this along!

“It struck me as more than ironic,” said [the President of the Colorado Springs NAACP, “because the disproportionate number of descendants of those African slaves have to face a criminal justice system that doesn’t provide them with justice.”

Although it has been there since last June, it seems that the NAACP has lobbied for its relocation after the exhibit ends this May.

Speaking of art works and law, Ben Tiven sent me this information on an interesting exhibition, Fair Use, that just opened at Columbia College Chicago’s Glass Curtain Gallery. According to the press release, the exhibition:

sets out to foster critical discussion about intellectual property rights. The exhibition looks at how contemporary artists and designers challenge proprietary cultural material through its appropriation, reconfiguration and redistribution. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The exhibition runs from March 1st through April 30th, 2010. More info on the exhibition can be found here.

The recent strategies of open-source and “copyleft” licensing serve to encourage collaboration and innovation through the free sharing of information. Together these two paradigms form a critique of the conventional modes of distribution and ownership to imagine a more fluid and inclusive economy of cultural meanings.

A good friend of mine from Barcelona, artist Ruben Verdu, has created an art project dealing with pedagogy, language,  trademarks and trademark law. Not being one for literal approaches to the creation and dissemination of meaning, Verdu wonders if the registration of a word as a trademark anchors its meaning to a “proper usage.” One thing I like about this project is that it highlights the differences between art and law when it comes to the use of language and production of meaning. This latter point is frequently missed, and misunderstood, by artists, especially when it comes to words such as authenticity, originality, creativity, fixation, and idea.

Registered Blackboard, An Exercise In Tautology. Ruben Verdu.

I’m going to contact Ruben and see if I can get him to expound on this idea. For now, take a look at the image of his Registered Blackboard. What do you think?

I’ll be giving a lecture presentation next Wednesday, March 10th, at The Jacob Burns Moot Court, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, at 55 Fifth Avenue in NYC.  Playing off a typical form of law school pedagogy, I’ll lead a class-room debate on the ethical implications inherent in Ethan & Joel Coen’s filmic adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men from within a mock court room theater. The event is curated by Adam Kleinman, organized and funded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and co-sponsored by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in NYC. Should be fun. For more information on this program, click here.

Whether you’re attending the lecture or not, here is some interesting reading material related to the film.

• Of Rats and Men; or, Reason in Our Time
• What is law and do we really need it?
• Point Blank: No Country for Old Men
• Law and Violence

A solicitor [a non-litigation attorney] has been accused along with four other men of threatening to destroy a stolen Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece unless they were paid £4.25m [$6.36 million], in a conspiracy allegedly hatched in the offices of one of Glasgow’s leading law firms.

Valued at £30m [$44m] to £50m[$75m], the painting was the centrepiece of the then duke’s collection at Drumlanrig castle, near Dumfries, reputed to be the UK’s most valuable collection in private hands, when it was stolen in August 2003 in a daylight robbery. The heist remains the UK’s biggest art theft. The painting was recovered in October 2007[.]