Law Commons^™

Banksy: Artist, Prankster, Or Both?, Anna Tichy

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith

Pepperdine Law Review

This Paper explores the role of copyright’s fair use doctrine as a limit on the moral right of integrity. The moral right of integrity gives an author the right to prevent any distortion, modification, or mutilation of their work that prejudices their honor or reputation. Actions that have been found to violate an author’s moral right of integrity include, for instance, altering a mural by painting clothing over nude figures, selling separated panels of a single work of art, and displaying sculptures with holiday ribbons. At the same time, copyright’s fair use doctrine allows follow-on creators to transform original works …

Reconciling The "Moral Rights" Of Authors With The First Amendment Right Of Free Speech, John T. Cross

John Cross

The article concludes that the First Amendment does not significantly limit the enforcement of those moral rights recognized by state and federal law. Several features of moral rights laws support this conclusion. First, many acts that infringe moral rights do not qualify as speech, and therefore receive no First Amendment protection. For example, the droit de suite, or resale right, is clearly constitutional under this rationale, as it involves no speech whatsoever. Second, even when the offending act is speech, most moral rights laws can be justified, depending on the circumstances, by one or more of several arguments. Indeed, many …

The Curious Case Of Cady Noland And The Disappearing Cabin, Amanda Hoefer

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Composers: An Argument For A Limited Expansion Of Moral Rights For Composers, Cassidy Grunninger

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Navigating The Legal Landscape Of A Subversive Art Form: Protecting Expression And Neglecting Embodiment, Dillon Henry Stern

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Reconciling The "Moral Rights" Of Authors With The First Amendment Right Of Free Speech, John T. Cross

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

The article concludes that the First Amendment does not significantly limit the enforcement of those moral rights recognized by state and federal law. Several features of moral rights laws support this conclusion. First, many acts that infringe moral rights do not qualify as speech, and therefore receive no First Amendment protection. For example, the droit de suite, or resale right, is clearly constitutional under this rationale, as it involves no speech whatsoever. Second, even when the offending act is speech, most moral rights laws can be justified, depending on the circumstances, by one or more of several arguments. Indeed, many …

The Effect Of The 1886 Berne Convention On The U.S. Copyright System's Treatment Of Moral Rights And Copyright Term, And Where That Leaves Us Today, Samuel Jacobs

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The 1886 Berne Convention was the most influential copyright related treaty for over a century, and provided important minimum substantive protections for authors. Key provisions included the establishment of the principle of National Treatment, the abolishment of formalities in order to receive copyright protection, a required copyright term of life of the author plus fifty years, and most offensive to the U.S. copyright system, the mandate that signatories provide authors non-economic moral rights. Despite the international importance and widespread acceptance of the Berne Convention, the U.S. did not join the Convention for over one hundred years, making it one of …

The Right To Say, "I Didn't Write That": Creating A Cause Of Action To Combat False Attribution Of Authorship On The Internet, Kathleen Brennan Hicks

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Empty Promise Of Vara: The Restrictive Application Of A Narrow Statute, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) was enacted by Congress in 1990 in order to bring our laws into compliance with Article 6bis of the Berne Convention and to acknowledge that protecting moral rights will foster “a climate of artistic worth and honor that encourages the author in the arduous act of creation.” The passage of this legislation is said to show Congress’s “belief that the art covered by the Act ‘meet[s] a special societal need, and [its] protection and preservation serves an important public interest.’”

Notwithstanding these lofty statements about artistic worth, honor and encouraging creation, VARA is a …

Vara’S Orphans: How Indigenous Artists Can Still Look For Hope In The Moral Rights Regime, Amy Skelton

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Using Public Disclosure As The Vesting Point For Moral Rights Under The Visual Artists Rights Act, Elizabeth M. Bock

Michigan Law Review

In 2010, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit confronted the novel question of when moral rights protections vest under the Visual Artists Rights Act. In Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc. v. Bichel, the First Circuit determined that the protections of the Visual Artists Rights Act begin when a work is "created" under the Copyright Act. This Note argues that this decision harms moral rights conceptually and is likely to result in unpredictable and inconsistent decisions. This Note proposes instead that these statutory protections should vest when an artist determines that his work is complete and presents …

Quilt Artists: Left Out In The Cold By The Visual Artists Rights Act Of 1990, Michelle Moran

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The United States Copyright Act with the inclusion of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) gives sculptors, painters, and photographers a bundle of rights that include the moral rights of attribution and integrity. However, the artistic efforts of artists who create quilts, whether the original purpose was to hang the quilt on the wall or to provide warmth and comfort on a bed, are not included in VARA due to the exclusion of applied art from VARA. This Comment contends that the Congressional intent to protect the highly personal connection artists have to their creations supports extending the …

Dead On The Vine: Living And Conceptual Art And Vara, Charles Cronin

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) broadened general copyright protection under U.S. law by granting to artists who have created certain copyrightable physical works of visual art, the moral rights of attribution and integrity. Since the time of VARA's enactment (and for some time before) many artists have worked with unconventional genres and media to produce art that is not comfortably accommodated among the visual art works contemplated by VARA. An increasing number of recent works of Conceptual and Appropriationist Art raise doubts about fixation and original expression, both of which are required for copyrightability which, in turn, …

D.I.Y. After Dastar: Protecting Creators' Moral Rights Through Creative Lawyering, Individual Contracts And Collectively Bargained Agreements, Rick Mortensen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Part I examines the scope of Dastar and argues that it is sufficiently narrow to permit some false attribution claims based on section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. As support, Part I examines district court cases after Dastar as well as pre-Dastar attribution cases that are still arguably good law. Part II examines the Second Circuit case of Gilliam v. ABC, Inc., in which the Monty Python comedy troupe successfully enjoined ABC from showing a mutilated copy of its work, as a model for pursuing right of integrity claims. Part II will show that this case is still good law, …

How Fine Art Fares Post Vara, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Professor Kwall discusses the implications of the recently enacted Visual Artists Rights Act ("VARA"). VARA, the only U.S. statute addressing the issue of moral rights, attempts to protect an artist's personal rights in his own works. Kwall details the effectiveness of the Act in a society that has not traditionally recognized such rights. Professor Kwall examines the many flaws of VARA and supports further legislation to strengthen the protection of artists' moral rights.

Of Moral Right And Righteousness, Sharon W. Halpern

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In response to Professor Kwall's article, Professor Halpern provides an exploration of the differences between European countries that provide broad moral right protection and the United States. Professor Halpern recommends an examination of the role artists and creators of intellectual property play in the culture of the United States in order to form a consensus on which a United States moral right regime may be built.

United States' Moral Right Developments In European Perspective, Marina Santilli

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Professor Santilli provides a European perspective on the United States' recent enactment of VARA. She questions the United States' commitment to the recognition of moral rights by scrutinizing the effectiveness of the Act. Her article provides commentary on Professor Kwall's article and a comparative analysis of moral rights.

Copyright In The 101st Congress: Commentary On The Visual Artists Rights Act And The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act Of 1990, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In the Visual Artists Rights Act, Congress has for the first time included moral rights within the U.S. copyright statute. Well-known in continental European copyright doctrine, and secured by the Berne Convention, moral rights afford protection for the author's personal, non-economic interests in receiving attribution for her work, and in preserving the work in the form in which it was created, even after its sale or licensing. These rights of attribution (sometimes infelicitously labeled the "right of paternity") and of integrity are conceptually distinct from the economic rights of exploitation set forth in section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act. …

Of Moral Rights And Resale Royalties: The Kennedy Bill, Marshall A. Leaffer

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.