I’m not surprised that there is now a legal battle over who holds copyright of Vivian Maier’s work:
The Heir’s Not Apparent
A Legal Battle Over Vivian Maier’s Work
The legal case to determine whether Mr. Baille is Maier’s closest relative has now set in motion a process that Chicago officials say could take years and could result in Maier’s works’ being pulled from gallery inventories and museum shows until a determination is made.
The state public administrator’s office for Cook County, in Chicago, which is charged with overseeing estates until relatives or others are approved by the courts to do so, created an estate for Maier on July 1 and has sent letters to Mr. Maloof and others who sell her work — prints can cost more than $2,000 apiece — warning them of possible lawsuits over Maier’s assets. The Stephen Bulger Gallery, in Toronto, which lists dozens of Maier prints on its website, received a letter on Aug. 19 from a Chicago law firm, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, representing the estate, asking it to preserve all documents related to her work and its sale.
Read the full story at The New York Times
I saw this coming. I guess when you think of how shady some of the people involved appear to be and the absolute commrcially driven hype around the work then its the inevitable next step. The people who were wheeling and dealing at the eary days could have found her and maybe helped her out a little i think What goes round comes around
Agreed.