In this inaugural newsletter, Amineddoleh & Associates is pleased to share some major developments that took place at the firm during the summer and autumn of 2021. 

 

LITIGATION UPDATES

 

A Victory for Our Client, the Republic of Italy 

Amineddoleh and Associates secured a win for its client, the Italian Republic, in the ongoing Safani v. Republic of Italy litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court dismissed litigation against our client in a case concerning an Italian antiquity seized from a Manhattan art gallery. Read about the litigation update here and the case details here.

(The Plaintiff has since filed a Second Amended Complaint, naming the Manhattan District Attorney as a defendant in the case.)  

 

ART & IP NEWS

 

Illicit Antiquities Trafficking 

In this blog post, our founder Leila Amineddoleh discusses disgraced art dealer Nancy Wiener, who revealed new details about her involvement in the illicit trafficking of antiquities and its effect on the art market in an allocution statement. Wiener had ties to Douglas Latchford, whose recent appearance in the Pandora Papers leak highlights the global nature of the illicit antiquities trade. Read more on our website. 

 

Nazi-Era Looting, Duress Sales, and New Laws 

There were a number of developments this autumn concerning Nazi-Era looting. We presented an entry in our popular Provenance Series to examine the issues surrounding the restitution of looted cultural heritage in Poland, including the country’s history, a new law shortening the applicable statute of limitations, and examples of successful returns. Read more on our website. In addition, questions continue to arise concerning alleged duress sales, with one painting in Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts coming under scrutiny. Founder Leila Amineddoleh discussed the case and its implications with media outlets. 

 

Turkey and Antiquities Restitution

Firm founder Leila Amineddoleh consulted with the Gilbert Trust at the Victoria & Albert Museum concerning a 4,250 year old golden ewer that was returned to Turkey in October. The ewer was purchased by a private collector who was unaware of the seller’s dirty dealings, including his involvement in antiquities trafficking. Luckily, the Gilbert Trust was proactive and the matter was resolved amicably and creatively. Read about the ewer’s fascinating history and the details of its return here.

 

NFT Battle: Miramax v. Tarantino 

With the ongoing NFT craze, market participants and legal scholars have been waiting for guidance from courts concerning the application of “traditional” intellectual property law to this new digital asset class. We authored a blog post discussing the legal questions and controversies arising as the NFT market continues to grow. NFTs recently made headlines when Miramax sued Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino, the award-winning movie director, announced his plan to sell a new NFT collection consisting of seven tokens to uncut, exclusive scenes from Pulp Fiction. In response, Miramax sued Tarantino for breach of contract, as well as copyright and trademark infringement. Read more about NFTs and this new lawsuit here. 

 

Lifetime Ban on Collecting: the Steinhardt Seizure 

This blog post details the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seizure of 180 looted antiquities from Michael Steinhardt. Steinhardt, a hedge-fund pioneer and one of the world’s most prolific collectors of ancient art, was involved in a criminal investigation examining issues with the provenance of various pieces in his collection. The DA’s Office announced that Steinhardt has been sanctioned by placing him under a lifetime ban on the purchase of antiquities. All of the seized antiquities will be returned to their country of origin. Read more about this news on our website. Our founder served as an independent cultural heritage law expert for the seizure of certain items in Steinhardt’s collection. She discussed this with a number of news outlets, including WNYC. 

 

LAW FIRM UPDATES AND EVENTS 

 

New Team Members 

Our firm added two new members to its roster this fall: Travis Mock and Deanna Schreiber. Travis is an attorney with a wealth of experience in litigation, IP law and trademarks, while Deanna is 3L at Fordham Law School interested in both transactional and litigation aspects of art and cultural heritage law. Deanna was the winner of the NY State Bar Association’s writing competition for her submission discussing the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and its future role in Nazi-looted art controversies. We wish Travis and Deanna a warm welcome. Learn more about our team and their accomplishments here.

 

Art Law Conferences 

Congratulations to our firm’s founder Leila Amineddoleh, who successfully chaired the 13th Annual NYCLA Art Law Institute, one of the most anticipated events of the year. Leila also spoke on the topic of foreign sovereign immunity while Associate Claudia Quinones participated in the ever-popular What’s New in Art Law? panel, focusing on title disputes. Check out the conference program and speaker details here. 

In early December, Leila and Claudia also spoke at an international conference, The Intentional Destruction of the Cultural Heritage of Mankind, organized by Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza.” They discussed cultural heritage as a human right as well as measures of legal protection in times of peace and conflict. In November, Leila presented a 3-hour lecture on the topic of NFTs for the Executive Master in Art Market Studies at the University of Zurich. Earlier in the month, she presented on “New Obligations in the Art & Antiquities Markets” for the Responsible Art Market Initiative. She also presented a featured lecture, “Cultural Heritage, the Law and Looting,” for the Department of Art History at New York University in October. Before that, she spoke about Nazi Looted Art and the Guelph Treasure for the International Center of Medieval Art. 

 

CLIENTS AND REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

 

Leader in the NFT Market 

Our firm was hired to create a unique template for the sale and purchase of NFTs on Monax. The company’s cutting-edge digital platform will combine technological expertise with art market considerations to provide users with full support for these emerging digital assets. As NFTs continue to increase in price and popularity, this template has the potential to revolutionize the market. Read more about NFTs and Monax’s services here. A&A also advised Nifty Gateway on its Terms & Conditions, and we have been working with a number of clients on new NFT projects. 

 

Artists, Designers & Fashion 

In honor of Diptyque’s 60th anniversary, our client Hiroshi Sugimoto collaborated with the fragrance house on a limited edition perfume bottle inspired by the Japanese region of Kankitsuzan. The artist used his childhood memory of seeing the ocean for the first time to create a striking form exploring the relationship between man and nature. More information on the collection can be found here. 

 

 

Public Art Commissions 

In honor of Veterans Day, the People’s Picture (our client) was commissioned by America250 to create a digital photo mosaic depicting African American WWI hero Sgt. Henry Johnson for its November Salute 2021. The stunning mosaic, containing hundreds of photographs of veterans and other military personnel, is accessible online here and you can read more about The People’s Picture and their work here. 

 

Artists, Art Dealers & Art Fairs 

A number of our artist-clients received recognition for international art exhibitions over the past year, including the talented Kamrooz Aram. In addition, our collector-clients and dealer-clients were also actively buying and selling art through both online platforms and in-person art fairs.

 

Television & Film

As television viewership numbers increase during the pandemic, it is a pleasure to work with producers, writers, and on-screen talent creating exciting programs. One of these clients is Terra Incognita, a company producing content for educational, travel, and documentary programming. They focus on high-quality and thought-provoking ideas to empower audiences around the world.

On behalf of Amineddoleh & Associates, we wish you a happy holiday season and wonderful new year.