A federal judge yesterday “granted a 10-day temporary restraining order forbidding publication in the United States of a new book by a Swedish author that contains a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfield while she considers arguments in a copyright-infringement case filed by [J.D.] Salinger. … ‘It does seem to me that Holden Caulfield is quite delineated by words, that is a portrait by words,’ Judge Batts told the lawyers. ‘It would seem that Holden Caulfield is copyrighted.'”
Tag: 06.18.09
Absent Guarantees, London Auction Estimates Dive 70%
“London art sales this month have estimates that are 70 percent lower than last year as auction houses abandon guaranteed prices, deterring sellers,” who are showing a preference for private sales. “The auction houses expect to make at least 100.9 million pounds ($165 million) in total. The equivalent sales last year had a low valuation of 334.7 million pounds.”
Judge Rebukes MoMA, Guggenheim, Claimant In Restitution
“A memo by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff lambasting a secret settlement involving New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has become the talk of the Holocaust restitution community. The museums announced a confidential pact with a German historian named Julius H. Schoeps and his relatives on Feb. 2…. Seven weeks later, in a six-page written judicial opinion tinged with sarcasm, Rakoff questioned the motives of both sides.”
Hollywood’s Top Prop Shop Closes Down
“[Harvey] Schwartz, the owner of 20th Century Props, plans to go out of business next month and auction the inventory. Battered by the surge in out-of-state movie production and the demise of scripted programming on network television, the once-thriving business – one of a handful of its type remaining – is failing.”
At The Center Of The City Opera Storm
“If nonprofit cultural organizations were run like corporations – in which chief executives are, at least in principle, held accountable for financial performance – the chairwoman of New York City Opera, Susan L. Baker, might well be out of a job.”