The New York Times Cites Associate Elyssa Westby’s Legal Research on Reclusive Chicago Artist Henry Darger

A February 7 New York Times article, “A Henry Darger Dispute: Who Inherits the Rights to a Loner’s Genius?,” cites asset management associate Elyssa Westby’s 2019 Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property article that questions the rights to the Darger estate. Elyssa notes, “[The] courts have interpreted inheritance statutes with little regard to ‘feelings of kinship.’ Even if a presumption was made that no heirs exist or that any located heirs would have been entirely disinterested, there is still a chain of succession that bequeaths Darger’s estate and copyrights to Illinois.”