Buchel Brief

No. 08-2199

IN THE

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

M

ASSACHUSETTS

M

USEUM OF

C

ONTEMPORARY

A

RT

F

OUNDATION

, I

NC

.,

Plaintiff-Appellee

,—v.—C

HRISTOPH

B

ÜCHEL

,

Defendant-Appellant

.

ON APPEALFROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICTCOURTFOR THE DISTRICTOF MASSACHUSETTS

BRIEFFOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANTCHRISTOPH BÜCHEL

George T. Conway III (No. 88538)Elaine P. Golin (No. 124151)W

ACHTELL

, L

IPTON

, R

OSEN

& K

ATZ

51 West 52nd StreetNew York, New York 10019(212) 403-1000John C. Blessington (No. 66967)Sara E. Yevics (No. 1132898)K&LG

ATES

LLPState Street Financial CenterOne Lincoln StreetBoston, Massachusetts 02111(617) 261-3100

Attorneys for Defendant-Appellant Christoph Büchel

d

Case: 08-2199 Document: 00113948254 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/02/2009 Entry ID: 5322416

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage

Preliminary Statement..............................................................................................1Statement of Jurisdiction..........................................................................................5Statement of the Issues Presented.............................................................................6Statement of the Case...............................................................................................6Statement of Facts.....................................................................................................9A. Christoph Büchel..................................................................................9B. MASS MoCA recruits Büchel to create aninstallation at the museum....................................................................9C. Büchel works on the installation in NorthAdams, but is hindered by the museums'sorganizational failures........................................................................14D. The museum claims to have run out of money.................................................................................................19E. "Plan B": MASS MoCA begins planningto exhibit the unfinished installation withoutBüchel's permission and continues workingon the installation by itself.................................................................21F. Museum employees recognize the improprietyand illegality of "Plan B"...................................................................24G. The museum promotes and exhibits theunfinished work to journalists and others..........................................26H. "An elephant behind a napkin": MASS MoCAopens

Training Ground

, partially covered, to the public, and critics judge it as Büchel's work .....................................29

Case: 08-2199 Document: 00113948254 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/02/2009 Entry ID: 5322416

ii

Summary of Argument...........................................................................................35Argument................................................................................................................36POINT ITHE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN DISMISSINGBÜCHEL'S CLAIM FOR DAMAGES UNDER VARAAND IN FAILING TO GRANT SUMMARYJUDGMENT FOR BÜCHEL ON THAT CLAIM......................................36A. The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990...............................................36B. VARA applies to unfinished works of visual art...............................39C. MASS MoCA modified and distorted

Training Ground

in violation of VARA...........................................................43POINT IITHE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN DISMISSING BÜCHEL'SCLAIM FOR DAMAGES UNDER THE COPYRIGHTACT AND IN FAILING TO GRANT SUMMARYJUDGMENT FOR BÜCHEL ON THOSE CLAIMS .................................50A. Public Display....................................................................................50B. Derivative Works...............................................................................52Conclusion..............................................................................................................53

Case: 08-2199 Document: 00113948254 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/02/2009 Entry ID: 5322416