Last year HMRC revamped and improved its ‘perimeter policing’ process which is used to identify AML-regulated businesses that are trading while unregistered for anti-money laundering supervision. As of the new financial year on 6 April 2022, art market participants (AMPs) that are found to be trading without registration, or late to register, may be fined or prevented from further trading…
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New Serpentine Galleries Report Reveals Only 44% of Those Involved in Art + Tech/ Science Collaborations Adopt Written Contracts
The fine art industry has experienced a remarkable digital transformation in the last year and a half. At the forefront of this paradigm shift – preceding even the Covid-era – are tech-driven art collectives and projects, with teams composed of artists, programmers, engineers, software developers, data scientists and chemists, to name a few. However, a new report released on July 26 by…
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Why Artworks Using a Celebrity’s Image Could Be Legally Actionable
A slew of copyright infringement suits in the last two years within the fashion industry have one theme in common: the paparazzi are the ones filing against celebrity’s unauthorized use of images by the copyright-holding photographer. The legal trend has incited celebs to raise broader legal questions on social media, concerning the extent to which they are able to control…
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Droit De Suite: The Absence of an Artist’s Resale Royalty in the United States
The story is as old as the art market itself and familiar to anyone who collects art. An emerging artist catches the eye of a reputable collector who, along with other art world insiders, purchases the entire body of work at a relatively inexpensive price. Demand skyrockets, and the collector resells the work a couple of years later at auction…
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Last Year’s Legislative U-Turn Is Gradually Eroding UK Art Market Secrecy
In the circus year that was 2020, the UK took front and center on the world stage. This act was one of balance – involving a tightrope Brexit transition while firming the sudden blow of Covid-related business closures. But the final surprise that would serve as a pre-warning to our fellow international onlookers [coughs: U.S.] was the rather creeping realisation that the art market, as we know it – shrouded in secrecy and money laundering accusations – is becoming more regulated and even more curtailed when it comes to what knowledge can stay highly confidential. Up until 10 January 2020,…
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50 Years On: How the ARRTSA Model Continues to Influence Artists’ Rights
In 1971, the brain-child of conceptual art dealer Seth Siegelaub and New York lawyer Robert Projansky revolutionized art purchase transactions. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent 1960’s that mirrors continued inequities today – think: the civil rights movement, women artist’s committees, art worker’s rights – The Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement, also known as ARRTSA; the Siegelaub-Projanksy…
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The UK Has Left the EU – What Does the New Trade Deal Mean for the British Art Market?
As of 1 January 2021, European Union law ceased to apply to the United Kingdom. Since the pair’s acrimonious split in 2016 – with the UK formally packing its bags on 31 January 2020 – the bitter exes have been haggling as to a mutually acceptable trade agreement by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. But…
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Blockchain x Art: More Tech Start-Ups Disrupting The Art Market
This piece is the second in a two-part series that explores the potential art-world impact of blockchain. Read Part I to find out what blockchain is, what NFC is and why art market participants should care. LEGAL COMPLIANCE Legal compliance may also incentivize art businesses to utilize blockchain platforms. In a 2019 article titled ‘Fine Art Certificates of Authenticity: Are…
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London High Court Deems Buyer Secrecy “Not An Absolute Obligation” in Art Fraud Case
London based art dealers Simon Dickinson Ltd have been sued for refusing to reveal certain classified information in relation to the fraudulent sale of an oil painting. In a ruling on 22nd September 2020, the UK High Court refuted the London-based art dealer’s argument that the art world custom of buyer-seller secrecy precluded them from disclosing information to a court…
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Sotheby’s Motions for Dismissal of New York Attorney General’s Tax Fraud Complaint
Sotheby’s has launched its rebuttal against New York’s Attorney General in the state’s Supreme Court after the NY AG filed a complaint against the auction house for “fraudulent avoidance of sales tax“. The 27-page memo seeks to dismiss the complaint – using a plethora of case law and statute – arguing that NYC AG Letitia James “fails to allege facts…
