A client has just been contacted by a major online stock photo outfit. It seems as though the client used 22 images on its website for whick the stock company either had the copyright or represented the owner. For its 3 years of use, the cleint has been charged approximately $60,000.

There is certainly legal exposure under U.S. copyright laws. Even innocent infringement, which the client asserts is the case, is unlawful. If the images have been registered with the U.S. Copyright office (www.copyright.gov), statutory damages range from $750 per infringement to $30,000 (potentially $660,000 in our case)

Website owners should review their websites to verify that any photos used have been properly obtained. a word to the wise, if you don't know where it came from, someone else probably has rights to it and you should take it down.

A popular way of donating art is under pressure because of a change in the tax laws. Giving fractional shares in paintings and other works of art has been a popular estate planning technique which allows a donor to gift a percentage interest in a work of art, share possession with the donee and get a tax deduction.

the change does not prohibit the fractional gift, but imposes new time limits when the gift must be completed (10 years), freezes value at the date of the initial gift( precluding a donor from taking advantage of later increases, while recognizing the decline in value) and requires the donee museum to take "substantial possession" after the gift.

Those considering fractional gifts or already in a program should consult with their legal and tax advisors.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is currently showing a facinating mock up of an artist's studio by Tom Burckhardt. According to the curator's notes written by Jessica Hough, the work "is a composite of bits and pieces of studio the artist has personally known or ones he has examined through documentary photographs." There are elements from the studios of Edward Hopper (pot bellied stove), Willem de Kooning (record player) and Red Grooms (sink). It is a virtual world rendered in cardboard and black paint. It trancends the mundane and reaches the sublime. Oh yeah, and it's fun, a quality often missing in action in much of art. It is there through August 6, 2006.

Soon this page will feature news, reviews and commentary on relevent court cases and court decisions regarding art, copyright and trademark laws, and the effects such decisions will have on artists and collectors of artworks. This page will feature the most recent article, and the link to the left will lead to an archive of previous updates.