Global Law and Transnational Legal Studies

The following is the list of RESEARCH THESIS TOPICS  to be chosen by students attending the Law & Art course.

Every topic is twinned with a very preliminary hyperlinked reference, which introduces the topic.

Research must be:

• Independently done (no group work)
• Original (no recycling of previous papers)
• Documented (every source, idea, critical position must be reported in the footnotes)

Academic literature and cases will be your main bases for research

Make use of the online library resources you may dispose of like :

http://sfx-39uto.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com.bibliopass.unito.it/39uto/journalsearch/unito

(within it, for example: https://brill-com.bibliopass.unito.it/view/journals/rpal/rpal-overview.xml )

Topics List

• The Moral Protection against total destruction of a work of art: a comparative analysis between civil law and common law (starting from Martin v. city of Indianapolis https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/982/625/1528055/
• Can a “monkey-made” selfie receive copyright protection ? (starting from https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2018/01/article_0007.html )
• The tension between the copyright requirements of originality and contemporary art (starting from https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1415&context=jatip )
• Something you can not do with a Picasso (starting from: https://artforprofits.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/picasso-gets-the-chop-artmarketblogcom/
• Can an Artist deny authorship of his/her work ? (starting from: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/13/archives/altering-of-smith-work-stirs-dispute-stripped-of-paint.html
• Is it fair to grant a copyright to someone who recreates our surroundings through virtual reality ? (starting from https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/caelj13&id=103&men_tab=srchresults )
• Appropriation art: why the Tomato Soup by Andy Warhol is not a violation of Campbell’s copyright (starting from http://www.utn.ac.id/IT/2996-2893/Appropriation-(art)_17260_utn.html )
• Is an artistic expression artistic expression conceptually separable from the utilitarian nature of the object ? (starting from https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1126&context=elr  )
• Disownment: some good reasons artists might have under the law to renounce their earlier production (starting from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gerhard-richter-omits-art-from-catalogue-318665  )
• The requirement of personal execution: should an artwork to be made “by the hand of the author” ? ( starting from http://www.186.legal/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Article-Mercier.pdf this reference is in French )
• When the owner of a work entitled to its complete destruction, even against the artist’s will  Art&Law p. 204-264) https://www.artquest.org.uk/artlaw-article/the-right-to-destroy-artwork-2/
• Is the Law ready to consider Artificial Intelligence as a possible artist ? (starting from https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx )
• Should murals or graffiti made by anonymous artists be defined as works of art, and therefore be granted the protection provided by Italian Copyright Law (L. 633/1941)? (starting from https://www.dlapiper.com/it/italy/insights/publications/2019/05/law-a-la-mode-28th-edition/street-art-and-fashion-in-italy/
• Sueing The Louvre: site specific artworks and moral rights (starting from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/cy-twombly-foundation-lawsuit-louvre-1952189 )
• When the model is a jellyfish (starting from https://casetext.com/case/satava-v-lowry )
• Recognition of conceptual art in a French court: the case Jakob Gautel v. Bettina Rheims (starting from http://agnestricoire-avocat.fr/medias/9--doccentre-copyright-tricoire_how-to-define---judge-a-work-en-.pdf )
• Does a work cease to be art if the artist renounces it?  (starting from https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-do-artists-have-the-right-to-disown-their-work https://brooklynrail.org/2016/03/criticspage/cowboys-milking-formerly-attributed-to-cady-noland )
• Destruction of Art for political reasons: the case of Diego Rivera at the Rockefeller Centre (starting from https://www.npr.org/2014/03/09/287745199/destroyed-by-rockefellers-mural-trespassed-on-political-vision?t=1617524121275 )
• GAM (Global Art Museum) is an art collective that transforms old paintings into lively animated canvases. Can they do it without asking the Museums that own th original works ? (starting from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/global-art-museum-nfts-1953404?utm_content=from_www.artnet.com&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EUR%20MAR%2023%20AM&utm_term=EUR%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D
• Reclaiming pieces of art looted in the age of colonialism: a kaleidoscope of opinions ( starting from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/restitution-benin-bronzes-humboldt-forum-1953883?utm_content=from_www.artnet.com&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EUR%20MAR%2023%20AM&utm_term=EUR%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D )
• Japanese Anime and the Manga Copyright reform (starting from https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1598&context=law_globalstudies )
• Law and performance: the case of “Seven easy pieces by Marina Abramovič” (starting from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20206555?seq=1
• The case of the Euphronios Krater (starting from https://presentpasts.info/articles/10.5334/pp.37/ )
• Copyright protection of digital Visual Art (starting from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1576790?seq=1 )
• AI art form a legal point of view: the problem of authorship (starting from https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.09109.pdf )
• Copyright principles facing the emergence of “Robot artists” (starting from https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/6/2/5/htm )
• Fanart: Originality and Imitation (starting from https://www.deviantart.com/droemar/journal/The-Problem-of-Fan-Art-Part-One-759429936 )
• NFT (Non-fungible Tokens): are they limited by international copyright law ? (starting from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/know-your-rights-march-nft-1954800 )
• The challenge of preserving contemporary art against artists will (starting from http://glennwharton.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wharton-Challenges-Conserving-Contemporary-Art.pdf )
• Conservation or deaccessioning ? The problem with Beuys and his materials (starting from https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/04/beuys-is-dead-long-live-beuys-characterising-volition-longevity-and-decision-making-in-the-work-of-joseph-beuys )

------------------------------