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Inspiration or plagiarism? A warning to artists and to art dealers

Walking in Milan during the Art Week you probably come up against the Venice gate’s bastions wholly wrapped up with hundreds of hessian fabrics.
The mind will go to Christo who, since the later sixties, wrap up famous monuments around the world.
However, the author of the packing, in this case, is Ibrahim Mahama, a young artist from Ghana who has realised this installation site specific for the Nicola Trussardi Foundation.

The occasion is good to reflect on what it is protectable and on what it is plagiarism. Read more

PACT LAW: A FUTURE FOR BUSINESS GROWTH?

In France a new bill has recently been introduced. Loi PACTE or Projet de loi de croissance et transformation des entreprises (Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation) is a text composed of nearly 200 articles aimed at reforming several economic areas. The draft law was initiated by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and was introduced to the National Assembly on 19 June 2018.

Pursuant to article 45 of the French Constitution and parliamentary procedure, the latter was therefore examined by the National Assembly and the Senate. Following debates between the National Assembly and the Senate in accordance with parliamentary procedure, the bill was finally voted on and adopted by the National Assembly on April 11.

But what features will this law contain? Read more

New commitment for customs in protecting cultural heritage

Last March, the European Parliament finally approved the regulation designed to protect cultural goods against smuggling and to put a stop to a source of terrorist financing.

Before now, there were no universal EU laws governing imports of cultural heritage.

The only European legislation on the trade of cultural goods concerned exports and the return of objects unlawfully removed from the EU. Read more

The First Case of the Beijing Internet Court

On October 30th, 2018, the recent Beijing Internet Court heard its first case on copyright ownership and infringement, “Tik Tok Video” vs. “HuoPai Video”.

The case was filed on September 11th, 2018 by ByteDance, the parent company of Tik Tok, who initiated the lawsuit against the video platform HuoPai by Baidu Technologies. ByteDance contends that after a short video was shared on its “Tik Tok Video” platform, Baidu Technologies uploaded without permission and offered downloads of the video on its “HuoPai Video” platform. Tik Tok sought an injunction and damages of one million Yuan, plus an additional cost of fifty-thousand Yuan against Baidu. Read more

Russia: A New Future For Fashion?

As of June 26th 2019, the Russian Federation will begin to enforce a newly-adopted bill expanding its legal protections to industrial designs under the “amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code”, most notably for the fashion industry.

In an effort to emulate the European Union’s robust protections for fashion designers and brands, Russia has made strides to open its market and secure its own group of designers to build up a presence in the global fashion industry. Recently with Russia’s ratification of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, applicants have the option to seek design protection through the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, instead of the traditional Russian national system of industrial design registration.

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“Copyright is for losers”…but it could be useful

Banksy went to Court and partially won.

 “Copyright is for losers” once wrote the secretive street artist ironically, however, a few weeks ago Pest Control (the company responsible for managing Banksy’s artworks) sued an Italian company for trademark infringement.

The Italian company 24 Ore Cultura organized an exhibition – The Art of Banksy. A visual protest – for Milan’s Mudec Museum, without having obtained any authorization from the artist, as disclaimed on the website.

The event opened in November 2018 and runs until April 2019.

The exhibition features 70 authentic Banksy prints and paintings, and its gift shop was selling a large variety of merchandise promoting Banksy imagery, including notebooks, postcards, bookmarks and diaries signed with the artist’s work.

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Droit de Suite – The Buyer Pays the Bill

Christie’s wins battle for a new interpretation of the “Droit de Suite” regulation in France.

A recent decision of the French Supreme Court[1] is going to overturn the law in France that requires the Artist’s Resale Right (Droit de Suite) being paid by vendors.

The resale right forms an integral part of copyright and is an essential prerogative for authors.

It is an unassignable and inalienable right, enjoyed by the author of an original artistic work, or their heirs, to an economic interest in successive sales of the work concerned.

The resale right is intended to ensure that the artist receives part of the resale value of a work of art. Read more

Has a new wave on restitution of cultural objects started?

The trend is toward considering the exhibits provenance in museums and galleries across Europe

Working in The Hague, being involved in the subject of Art Law, my mind goes to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

An excellent combination, working here where the first use of the term Cultural Property occurred in an international legal context.

However, what is Cultural Property? Read more

CNIL Sanctions Google 50 Million Euros for Non-Compliance to the GDPR

On May 25th, 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. From that date forth, companies were required to comply with the text in order to best protect citizens’ personal data within the European Union.

In France, it is the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) which monitors the compliance of companies with the Regulation and imposes appropriate sanctions. In fact, some major Web players have already been sanctioned by the Commission for the processing of individuals’ personal data.

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Xi Jinping visits Macron to strengthen China-EU relationship

On the third day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France, the French President Emmanuel Macron took the unprecedented step of establishing a united European front to compete with China’s global hegemony, specifically China’s One Belt One Road strategy. Macron invited EU leaders Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker to join the meeting with Xi. This meeting was referred as a “high-level meeting on the challenges of multilateralism” by the French government. The core of this meeting was the discussion of climate change and multilateral relations between Europe and China. Macron’s intention of forging a United European front upon Xi’s visit cannot be easily assumed, however, it can be assumed that Macron keeps a questioning attitude towards the two-way street of investment and trade between the Europe and China regarding China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Read more