US judge awards $6.75 mn in damages to graffiti artists
In a landmark ruling that graffiti art should be protected by US federal law, a New York judge has awarded $6.75 million in damages to 21 artists whose work was whitewashed by a developer in 2013. In a written decision filed Monday, Judge Frederic Block awarded the maximum possible amount of statutory damages, $150,000 for each of 45 works obliterated at the 5Pointz site in Queens.