Sectors · Technology and services
Art, culture and creative industries
Fine art, antiquities and the auction trade raise a distinct set of questions: authorship and moral rights, provenance and title, the antiquities regime that governs cultural property, and the customs treatment of works that cross a border.
Reviewed
What this covers
- Artist copyright enforcement and moral rights
- Provenance disputes and title verification for artworks
- Cultural property and antiquities regulatory compliance
- Auction and gallery contract disputes
- Cross-border art transactions and customs compliance
- Art fund structuring
- Authentication disputes and the liability of a valuer or authenticator
- Cultural heritage protection and repatriation proceedings
The notes behind these capabilities
On our reading of section 2(1)(a) of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (the Act), a work of art or craftsmanship becomes an antiquity once it has been in existence for not less than one hundred years, and a manuscript or record of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value becomes one at seventy-five years. Section 3 bars its export by anyone other than the Central Government or an authority it authorises. A business of selling it needs a licence under section 5, an object in a category the Central Government notifies under section 14 must be registered within fifteen days of coming into a person's ownership, control or possession, and section 19 lets the Central Government acquire it compulsorily for a public place. An export or attempted export in breach of section 3 carries imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine under section 25(1), and a breach of the licensing or registration sections carries up to six months, a fine or both, and makes the object liable to confiscation.
Reference
Regulators in this sector
Forums
Practice areas that apply
- Boardroom and corporate
- Transaction advisory
- Capital markets
- Contracts and procurement
- IP and licensing
- Civil disputes
- PMLA
- Technology, data and product
- Employment
- Taxation and fiscal
- White-collar and cyber defence
- AI, data and emerging technology
- Cyber crime
- Public law and public interest litigation
- Technology disputes
- Money recovery
- Foreign exchange (FEMA)
- Prevention of sexual harassment (POSH)
- Employee's Compensation
- GST disputes
Advocates in this sector
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