Case Update: Solar Drops Second Gang Starr Lawsuit After Judge Questions Prospect of Duplicative Litigation
When I first wrote about the latest chapter in the legal battle surrounding Gang Starr in September 2025, producer John…
Category
Case Studies
Our case studies take you inside real client matters—showing how legal strategy meets creativity in the art, fashion, luxury, and business worlds. Each one breaks down the challenge, the approach, and the key lessons learned.
2 Live Crew Tried to Take Back Its Copyrights. A Decades-Old Bankruptcy Got in the Way.
Copyright ownership can last for decades, and the Copyright Act gives many creators an unusual second chance to revisit deals…
When Does a Sculpture Become a Building? East Hampton’s Lawsuit Over Matt Johnson’s Meditating Figure
Large-scale public and private art installations can raise issues well beyond copyright, contracts, and exhibition agreements. Once an artwork reaches…
Eden Gallery Sues Collector Over Alleged $822,390 Unpaid Balance: Lessons for Art Sales on Credit
High-value art transactions are often built on relationships. A collector may purchase repeatedly from the same gallery, payments may be…
MoMA v. MOMACHA: Trademark Strength, Brand Similarity, and Consumer Confusion
A trademark dispute does not always begin with two businesses offering the same product. Confusion can arise when a newer…
When a $2.5 Million Art Loan Ends in Litigation: Lessons for Galleries, Curators, and Property Owners
Long-term art placements can benefit everyone involved. Galleries gain access to potential collectors, property owners enhance their spaces, and residents…
When a Gallery Sells Consigned Art but Does Not Pay the Artist: The Hole Lawsuit and New York’s Trust-Fund Rules
An artwork consignment is not simply an informal arrangement in which a gallery agrees to sell a work and pay…
45 Antiquities Seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Provenance, Repatriation, and the Importance of Due Diligence
On July 8, 2026, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the return of 59 antiquities, collectively valued at more than…
Jacques Goudstikker’s Stolen Collection Is Still Being Found and Returned
Restitution can’t undo the Holocaust but it can return what was taken and every returned work matters. A Nazi-looted painting…
Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” Returns to Federal Court: Why Personal Jurisdiction May Bar the Claims Again
The Facts. The heirs of German-Jewish banker and art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy have filed a new lawsuit in the…
Can a Property Owner Erase a Mural? Wyland’s VARA Lawsuit Against FIFA, Building Owner, and Property Manager
Marine artist Wyland has filed a federal lawsuit after his downtown Dallas mural, Ocean Life, also known as Whaling Wall…
Outkast and “ATLiens”: Why Common Law Trademark Rights Matter
Federal trademark registration is important. But it is not the whole story. In the United States, trademark rights can arise…
If a Room is Repainted, Has the Artwork Inside Been Altered Too? That Is the Question in This New Lawsuit.
Most artists and art businesses think of VARA claims as cases about destruction, mutilation, or direct physical changes to an…
Cardi B, Paparazzi Photos, and a Basic Copyright Rule: Being in the Photo Is Not Owning the Photo
A recently filed copyright lawsuit against Cardi B is a useful reminder of a rule that surprises a lot of…
When Expert Opinions Move the Art Market: Authentication, Authority, and Legal Risk
In the art market, expert opinions are not just academic. A statement about authenticity, attribution, condition, provenance, or catalogue raisonné…
AI Can Create But Under U.S. Copyright Law, It Still Cannot Be the Author
Artificial intelligence keeps forcing copyright law into harder and harder questions. But at least for now, one rule remains firmly…