Unsuspecting artists, who are not aware of
their legal rights and responsibilities, are
easy targets for fraud or unethical business
practices. You may also inadvertently
infringe another artists' rights - and that's
the last thing you probably intend.
Registering your copyright to protect your
art is not going to stop bad things from
happening. But as a business owner, you owe
it to yourself to be informed. Ignorance is
no excuse and it does nothing to protect you.
Being in charge of your intellectual property
puts people on notice that you value your
talents. You will also be in a better
position for legal recourse against any
perpetrators.
There are more fundamental reasons to be
"street legal" as A.C.T. Art
Marketing Mentors Patrice Federspiel and
Bruce K.
Haley, Jr. point out:
"There will be times in your
career when you will need a lawyer. Looking
over contracts and agreements, and writing
them up, are two such times. It pays to
cultivate relationships with lawyers in your
vicinity.
"You need to know the law so that you are
not guilty of copyright infringement,
plagiarism or unfair use of someone else's
original work, and so that you can protect
yours. You must also understand and adhere to
consignment and shipping agreements that
cover many of the details you will need to
discuss when you exhibit your work.
"Our world is filled with examples of
honest people and those of dubious nature.
You can trust your intuition up to a point,
and then it doesn't hurt to have someone else
to double-check your knowledge when you're in
doubt." ~Patrice Federspiel
"When people steal your art,
they figure they won't be caught and that the
artist hasn't taken the proper precautions to
safeguard their work by actually registering
it with the U.S.
Copyright Office. I would definitely advise
registering all your work once a year. It's
only $45 by mail or $35 online and Robin
Sagara can create a master
file that makes this an easy process.
"There are no guarantees, but if you register
your work, you are entitled to recover legal
fees in addition to compensation. The thieves
figure you won't have the resources to sue,
so consider licensing deals. Those people DO
have the resources to sue and it's another
potential avenue for income."
~Bruce K. Haley
You always have choices about how you respond
to anything that affects your ability to make
a living making art:
- You can decide to ignore it and hope it
will go away. It won't.
- You can get angry or depressed and do
nothing about it. Same result as ignoring,
plus, you may give yourself ulcers.
- Or you can act responsibly to protect
your interests by registering your copyright
and your opinion.
By the way, you can read the latest updates
about the controversial Orphan Works Law at
A.C.T. Graduate Cristina
Acosta's Blog:
"The US Orphan Works amendment is not an
exception to copyright law to permit the
archiving and preservation of old, abandoned
works. It is a license to infringe
contemporary works by living artists
worldwide. Its goal is to force these works
into private commercial US registries as a
condition of protecting copyrights. Coerced
registration violates international copyright
law and copyright-related treaties. To
concede defeat on it is to knock a hole in
copyright law and admit a Trojan horse."
- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the
Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
For more info on the US Orphan Works
amendment see:
Illustrators' Partnership at www.illustratorspartnership.org
The American Society of Media Photographers
at www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php
The NAIA at www.naia-artists.org
a YouTube info video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc
and Public Knowledge at
www.publicknowledge.org
(an argument for the
legislation followed by several rebuttals and
the full report at www.copyright.gov
To make an informed choice, you need to start
by educating yourself. Then, instead of
throwing up your hands, use them to take
action. What choices will you make and how
will you express your opinion?
