User:Conceptuallaw/sandbox

Christoph Büchel's installation
In May 2007, the museum became embroiled in a legal dispute with Swiss installation artist Christoph Büchel. The museum had commissioned Büchel to create a massive installation, "Training Ground for Democracy", the exhibit was to include a rebuilt movie theater, nine shipping containers, a full-size Cape Cod-style house, a mobile home, a bus, and a truck. On On May 21, 2007, MASS MoCA filed a one-count complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeking permission from Judge Michael A. Ponsor that the museum was entitled to present to the public Büchel's art installation without the artist's consent.

Büchel claimed that allowing the public to view it in an unfinished state and without his permission would misrepresent his work, infringe his copyrights, and infringe his moral rights granted under U.S. law, specifically, the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act. Contrary to Büchel's allegation, the museum alleged thatBüchel did not respond to requests by the museum to come and remove the materials. On September 21, 2007, Judge Michael Ponsor of the Federal District Court for Massachusetts in Springfield ruled that there was no copyright violations and no distortion inherent in showing an unfinished work as long as it was clearly labeled as such. Judge Ponsor noted that his opinion would likely not be viewed as creating a legal precedent. Although the museum was granted permission to exhibit Büchel's art installation without his consent, it chose not to do so.

Büchel appealed the district court's ruling, and in January of 2010 the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overruled Judge Ponsor, hiding that the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act applies to unfinished works of art, and that Büchel asserted a viable claim under the Copyright Act that MASS MoCA violated his exclusive right to display his work publicly.