For all you copyright fanatics in New York City, The New York State Bar Association is holding an all-day event on May 25th guest starring representatives of the US Copyright office. According to the NYSBA website, attendees will learn the latest developments in copyright law and policy. Speakers from the Copyright Office and the private sector will discuss important aspects of copyright law and practice including recent litigation, the copyright registration process and current legislative activity. For more information check out NYSBA’s website, here. See you there!

On Wednesday, April 28th, dissident German artists from the former East Germany joined Joe Goldthreate and Dr. Rip Patton, participants from the Nashville sit-ins, as well as George Barrett, a Nashville attorney active in the civil rights movement, for a dialogue on civil rights and freedom of expression at the First Amendment Center.

The German artists included in the discussion are showcasing their artwork at the First Amendment Center from April 19, 2010 to May 8, 2010 in an exhibit titled “Breakthrough! Twenty Years after German Unification: Critical Perspectives of Berlin Artists.” This exhibit features the work of 10 German artists who lived and created art under the communist regime in former East Germany.

The Art Newspaper has two articles on art market transparency and resale right for visual artists.  Seems like these two articles come out of the recent debacle between Miami collector Craig Robins and New York art dealer David Zwirner.

Regarding resale rights, Edward Winkleman notes the strong opposition in New York to grant these resale rights to visual artists, citing as one rationale the “the myth of the starving artist.” (California currently provides resale rights, or droit de suite, to visual artists.) Winkleman does note that the current systems is not working that well either, and takes on art lawyers by claiming that the only ones who benefit from this unbalanced and unfair system are, well,  lawyers.

Three years ago, Los Angeles art dealer Tatiana Khan sold a 1902 pastel by Pablo Picasso for $2 million. She told the buyer it had come from the family of famed publisher Malcolm Forbes and was in fact worth far more. Only problem was the painting was a fake. In fact, federal authorities say Khan paid an art restorer $1,000 to paint a copy of the painting called “La Femme au Chapeau Bleu,” or “The Woman in the Blue Hat.” Now, the 70-year-old from West Hollywood could be off to prison. Via AOL News.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association released a report yesterday with alleged findings that fair use generates $4.7 trillion in revenue for the U.S.

Ironically, two other reports released yesterday strongly argue for stronger intellectual property rights protection. The first, by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, concluded that more aggressive protections for copyrighted and patented work is necessary to spur economic growth and job creation. The other report, by the NY Times, reported that as Shanghai prepares for the World Expo, “government inspectors fanned out across the city and ordered shops selling pirated music and movies to stash away their illegal goods during the expo[.]”

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The New York Civil Liberties Union has come out in support of New York City art vendors and urged the NY City Parks Dept to “reconsider its proposal to restrict the number and location of vendors at several city parks on the grounds that the City has not made enough information public to allow for a determination of if the proposed rules run afoul of the First Amendment.”

“Parks have historically been recognized as vitally important for social, artistic and political expression,” said NYCLU Legal Director Arthur Eisenberg. “The Parks Department should make every effort to accommodate our city’s artists, poets and authors. It must withdraw its proposal until it can publicly demonstrate it is meeting its First Amendment obligations.”

In a letter sent Friday afternoon to Alessandro G. Olivieri, general counsel to the Department of Parks & Recreation, Eisenberg and NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman outlined three concerns regarding the proposed vendor restrictions:

• That the Parks Department has “failed utterly” to make public data demonstrating that its proposal is reasonable and leaves open ample alternatives;
• That a first-come, first-served system for getting vendor space runs the risk that a few vendors and their agents will obtain more than their fare share of sites for more than their fair share of time;
• And that any restrictions placed should be tailored to their communities as the residents of Greenwich Village, where Union Square Park is located, “can tolerate a level of disorder and energy” that residents near Central Park may object to.

NYCLU’s letter can be read here (PDF format).  ARTIST president Robert Lederman, who is leading the protest campaign to inform the public of their position against the new City Park restrictions, commented, “Needless to say, when the #1 advocacy group for First Amendment rights comes out against the Parks Department and for our side, it is a very good development!” Lederman has also commented on media bias against art vendors.

Last week we reported on the planned protest by NY City art vendors group, ARTIST, concerning the NYC Department of Parks’ proposal of new rules for street artists who display or sell art in NYC Parks.

Robert Lederman has told Clancco that media coverage of the protest was not only biased against ARTIST and art vendor protesters, but also unfairly characterized the protest.  Lederman:

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