The Art of Case Law Precedent

April 30, 2024

By Olivia Zinzi and Dea Sula

Precedent, “[a] professional name for the aggregate of reported cases as forming a body of jurisprudence; or for the law of a particular subject as evidenced or formed by the adjudged cases,” is one of the foundations of common law, which is practiced in the United States.^[1] The highest court in the country, the Supreme Court, is the ultimate authority when it comes to precedent, issuing decisions that become stare decisis and bind lower courts.^[2] The United States Supreme Court rules on 1% of requests it receives.^[3] The Supreme Court receives, on average, 7,000 to 8,000 petitions annually and hears only 80.^[4] Not many art law cases have made their way to the highest court in America, thus those that do become extremely significant. Most art law decisions come out of federal district courts, reflecting the impact of federal law on art law.

American jurisprudence relies heavily on case law precedent, and therefore, it is of the utmost importance to understand legal decisions and influential cases, especially in the art law space. Art law is a cross-disciplinary subject that spans First Amendment and censorship issues, money-laundering laws, intellectual property laws, and international law issues pertaining to restitution.

There are limited resources focused on art law specifically, so the Center for Art Law’s case law database stands out as an on-point resource. Since the summer of 2023, the Center has been assembling a new database containing case citations and summaries for art law cases that were based on newsletters from the Center for Art Law dating back to 2012. The new database follows the evolution of recent art law, specifically the growth of digital art issues, copyright development, and the current batch of AI lawsuits.

With the rollout of our new and improved Case Law Corner database, let’s highlight a few important and influential art law cases. For a more comprehensive look at art law cases, please become a member of the Center for Art Law for access to this groundbreaking resource.

5 of the Most Influential/Important Art Law Cases

1. Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith, No. 21–869 (U.S. Oct. 12, 2022).
   1. https://itsartlaw.org/case-law-database/?t=warhol%20goldsmith
2. US v. Portrait of Wally
   1. https://itsartlaw.org/case-law-database/?t=portrait%20of%20wally
3. De Sole v. Knoedler Gallery (use highest court ruling)
   1. https://itsartlaw.org/case-law-database/?t=de%20sole%20v.%20knoedler
4. Cariou v. Prince
   1. https://itsartlaw.org/case-law-database/?t=Cariou%20v.%20Prince
5. Rogers v. Koons
   1. https://itsartlaw.org/case-law-database/?t=Rogers%20v.%20Koons

Visit the Case Law Corner TODAY and discover the art law precedent!

About the Authors:

Dea Sula is the Center for Art Law’s Case Law Corner Coordinator. She is a 3L at Santa Clara University School of Law and has an art history degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the Senior Articles Editor for the SCU Journal of International Law and is interested in immigration, intellectual property, and art law.

Olivia Zinzi is a Legal Intern at the Center for Art Law. She is a 3L at Northeastern University School of Law and received her BA in government and art history from Georgetown University. She is an Articles Editor for the Northeastern University Law Review and is interested in intellectual property, corporate law and technology.

The authors would like to thank all of the past and current legal interns who have worked on compiling and summarizing cases over the years as well as the Center’s Founder, Irina Tarsis, for encouraging the formation of the new and improved database.

Select Sources:

1. The Law Dictionary, Case Law Definition & Legal Meaning, available at https://thelawdictionary.org/case-law/#:~:text=CASE%20LAW%20Definition%20%26%20Legal%20Meaning&text=A%20professional%20name%20for%20the,and%20other%20sources%20of%20law. ↑
2. Cornell Law School, Wex Definition: Binding Precedent, Legal Information Institute (May 2020), available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/binding_precedent#:~:text=Binding%20precedent%20is%20a%20legal,will%20deliver%20a%20written%20opinion. ↑
3. Pew Trusts, How the Supreme Court Decides Which Cases to Hear (Nov. 24, 2020), available at https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/11/24/how-the-supreme-court-decides-which-cases-to-hear. ↑
4. Id. ↑