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Visualizing Copyright Law: Lessons From Conceptual Artists, Sandra M. Aistars

Akron Law Review

Copyright law does not require an object to be “art” to be protectable, except in one respect: copyright protection does not extend to useful articles. As a result, courts engage in analysis strikingly similar to that of conceptual artists visualizing art. Copyright law has an uneasy relationship with conceptual art because the Copyright Act also requires works to be original and fixed in a tangible medium. Requirements that have led some to conclude that the kind of art where “the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work” should not be protectable by copyright.

This article examines …