Museum Law Tools & Strategies: Capacitizing Yourself as a Professional

Museum Law Tools & Strategies: Capacitizing Yourself as a Professional ©Jon R. Cavicchi Professor & IP Librarian Franklin Pierce IP Center at UNH Law

Think about what’s inside the box , then think outside the box

Most fun area of law to practice research skills
Content is distributed globally
Spectrum of from information overload to no legal authorities at your disposal
Resort to Berring “Commando Legal Research Rules
Use a Human Being
Any Port in a Storm
Often have to back into museum law research through news

Plain meaning rule

What is the scope of museum law?
I. What Is a Museum?
II. Museums Are Accountable to Whom?
III. Collection Management Policies
IV. The Acquisition of Objects : Accessioning
V. The Disposal of Objects : Deaccessioning
VI. Loans : Incoming and Outgoing
VII. Unclaimed Loans
VIII. International Loans
IX. Objects Left in the Temporary Custody of the Museum
X. Objects Found in the Collections
XI. Promised Gifts
XII. Tax Considerations Relevant to Gifts
XIII. Appraisals and Authentications
XIV. Care of Collections
XV. Insurance
XVI. Access to the Collections
XVII. Visitor and Employee Safety as It Relates to Collections.

App. A. Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, Adopted by the General Conference, UNESCO, at Its Sixteenth Session, Paris, November 14, 1970
App. B. Title III of Public Law 97-446: Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act codified at 19 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq
App. C. Curation of Federally Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections
App. D. 22 U.S.C. §2459: Immunity from Seizure Statute
App. E. Public Law 94-158: Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act, as Amended codified at 20 U.S.C. § 971

16 U.S.C. secs. 461 to 470aaa-11 (includes the Archaeological Resources Protection Act) These sections of Title 16 ("Conservation") concern the preservation and protection of important historic sites, buildings, objects, and antiquities.
Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, Pub. L. No. 97-446, secs. 301-15, 96 Stat. 2329, 2350-63 (1983) (codified at 19 U.S.C. secs. 2601-2613) This act implements the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and authorizes the President to enter into bilateral agreements with party nations to prevent the import of certain "archaeological or ethnological material."
National Stolen Property Act, 18 U.S.C. secs. 2314-15 This act prohibits, among other things, the knowing transportation or sale of stolen or fraudulently obtained merchandise (e.g., a work of art) worth $5,000 or more.
Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-298, 102 Stat. 432 (1988) (codified at 43 U.S.C. secs. 2101-2106) This act applies to abandoned shipwrecks in submerged state lands. It abrogates the law of finds and salvage; the United States takes title to these shipwrecks and then ownership is transferred to the state where the shipwreck is located.
18 U.S.C. sec. 668 Prohibits the theft of major works of art and cultural objects from museums in the United States.
19 U.S.C. secs. 2091-2095 Prohibits the importation of certain stone carvings and wall art that is the "product of a pre-Columbian Indian culture of Mexico, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean Islands."
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Pub. L. No. 101-601, 104 Stat. 3048 (1990) (codified at 25 U.S.C. secs. 3001-13, 18 U.S.C. sec. 1170) This act protects Native American burial sites by prohibiting unauthorized excavation and trafficking in certain items, such as human remains and funerary objects. It also establishes a system for the repatriation of items removed prior to the effective date of the act. 22 U.S.C. sec. 2459 Protects certain works of art and "other objects of cultural significance" imported into the United States for temporary exhibition at a museum or similar institution from seizure under judicial process.
Copyright Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541 (codified as amended at 17 U.S.C. secs. 101-805) Works of art are protected by U.S. copyright law. Provisions of this act apply to the creation, ownership, reproduction, and dissemination of works of art.

Dedicated museum & art law sources IP sources covering crimes Criminal Law sources covering art, IP crimes Internet, cyberlaw, computer law sources covering IP crimes General legal materials with sources on art & museum law & crimes Non-legal sources covering art, IP crime Treaties & International Agreements Cultural and moral rights sources Domestic & foreign, international primary & secondary sources Dedicated licensing sources covering art & museum Non-profit tools General & dedicated sources on taxation General & dedicated personal injury & insurance sources

Domestic & International Human Rights?

TITLE 10. ARMED FORCES
TITLE 14. COAST GUARD
TITLE 16. CONSERVATION
TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
TITLE 19. CUSTOMS DUTIES
TITLE 20. EDUCATION
TITLE 36. PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL OBSERVANCES, CEREMONIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS
TITLE 40. PUBLIC BUILDINGS, PROPERTY, AND WORKS
TITLE 42. THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
TITLE 51. NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS

Museums & Litigation : “Cases”
Over 1000 reported appellate cases with a museum as a named party
No controlled way (e.g. West Topic to sort them)
No topical area/tab but consider MyWestlaw & other customization options as well as WestlawNext
Use your case research skills
West Key Number 315T Public Amusement and Entertainment
Over 2000 museums named parties in Court Dockets
Nature of action field shows topics of litigation
Thousands of news stories report legal activity in museum law space
ti(museum) & ti(legal litigation lawsuit sue* court)

Museums :
Title 2. Grants and Agreements : Institute of Museum and Library Services
Title 5. Administrative Personnel : Institute of Museum and Library Services
Title 8. Aliens and Nationality : Evidence of the display of the alien's work in the field at artistic exhibitions or showcases
Title 9. Animals and Animal Products : Bones, horns, and hoofs for trophies or museums; disinfected hoofs.
Title 26. Internal Revenue: Exemption for sale to or use by certain aircraft museums.
Title 34. Education : Institute of Museum Services
Title 36. Parks, Forests, and Public Property : When are the Presidential library museums open to the public?
Title 43. Public Lands: Interior : Human Remains, Funerary Objects, Sacred Objects, or Objects of Cultural Patrimony in Museums and Federal Collections Summaries.
Title 45. Public Welfare : Museum eligibility and burden of proof--Who may apply for Grants.
45 C.F.R. PART 1160—INDEMNITIES UNDER THE ARTS AND ARTIFACTS INDEMNITY ACT
600+

So what type of project are you working on?
Legal Research
Transactional
Litigation
How to / training materials
Client awareness and education
Public Policy
News
Statistics
Public relations
Fundraising

Secondary Sources
People
Treatises
Continuing Legal Education
Journal Literature
Grey Literature
Databases
Legal and non legal
News sources
Social media
Blogs
Twitter
Linked In

Treatises

Pleading & Practice : Forms
Legal form sets print & online
Practice sets print & online
Treatises have lots of forms
Web

Continuing Legal Education

Journal Literature No dedicated law reviews

Plenty of “Arts” Law Reviews
Consider to what extent “arts” is enmeshed with entertainment law reviews
Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal
Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts
DePaul-LCA Journal of Art and Entertainment Law
Florida Entertainment, Art and Sport Law Journal
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Grey Literature
Gray literature is a field in library and information science.
Used variably by intellectual community, librarians, and research professionals to refer to a body of materials that cannot be found easily through conventional channels such as publishers
but which is frequently original and usually recent
Debachere, M. C. (1995). "Problems in obtaining grey literature". IFL4 Journal 21 (2): 94–98. doi:10.1177/034003529502100205

Web Based Research Platforms
Lexis
Use Find a Source to discover content in any database
Westlaw
Use IDEN to discover content in any database
Hein Online
Foreign & International Law Products
Non legal
JSTOR
EBSCO
SSRN

New Sources

Social Media
Blogs
Peter J. Caruso II, a partner in Prince Lobel’s Intellectual Property and Media Practice Groups, has launched a new museum law blog. The Museum Law Blog is a resource for curators, directors, trustees, donors, archivists, and museum patrons to stay on top of current trends in Museum Law
http://museumlaw.wordpress.com/

Blog by Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Association of Museums. Association of Museum’s (AAM) Code of Ethics supports this view, asserting that As nonprofit institutions, museums comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws and international conventions, as well as with the specific legal standards governing trust responsibilities. This Code of Ethics for Museums takes that compliance as given. But legal standards are a minimum. Museums and those responsible for them must do more than avoid legal liability, they must take affirmative steps to maintain their integrity so as to warrant public confidence. They must act not only legally but also ethically.

Crowdsourcing
Follow strategy avoids “noise”
News of all types
Content links
Connections to experts
Search Twitter including Google
Twitter

U.S. Government GAO found that almost 20 years after NAGPRA was enacted, eight key federal agencies with significant historical collections--Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service; Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and the Tennessee Valley Authority--have not fully complied with the requirements of the act.

International

Foreign Laws : each unique Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest – English-language summaries of the laws of 80 countries, including a digest of European Union Law.

Professional Organizations : “NGOs”

Prospecting using law directories
28 lawyers in museum law category
90 museums listed as representative clients
Over 1500 lawyers list their affiliations with museums (e.g. Board members)

Law Schools

Some Museum Law Practice Groups

Museum lawyers

Emerging issues
Herbarium Collections
Smithsonian Collection
Ownership under CBD

Museum Law Tools & Strategies: Capacitizing Yourself as a Professional

by Franklin Pierce IP Center at UNH School of Law on Oct 20, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Museum Law Tools & Strategies: Capacitizing Yourself as a Professional — Presentation Transcript