Whenever an artist or writer portrays a living person in an unflattering light, they are likely to receive a letter or angry phone call saying things like “I am going to sue you for defamation” or “you’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” along with plethora of swear words. It sounds pretty serious and scary, but the reality is that it is usually just bluster; defamation suits are not that easy to win...
As a general rule, when an artistic or literary work is created, the author is the one that holds the copyright. Nobody can copy, distribute, or display the work without the author’s permission. When a painting is sold, the buyer owns the painting itself, but does not have the right to use that image for anything else other than to hang it. But what happens if the artist was hired specifically...
Artists and collectors can minimize estate taxes on artworks by employing a planning strategy and understanding the complexities involved with assessing the work's fair market value.
It is a common misperception that you cannot copyright a building design. That is probably because, before 1990, there wasn’t much protection for building designs. At that time, anyone could reproduce buildings that looked identical to those created by others, as long as they didn’t actually use copied drawings to build them. With the passage of the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act in...
Picking a name for a business or product is one of the first steps for any new venture. However, many companies don’t register their trademarks during the start-up phase, usually waiting until a later time when sufficient cash is available if registered at all. That decision is a bit of a gamble. In reality, businesses should prioritize trademark registration for their brands or company...
What are the challenges for collectors in authenticating artworks? What are the legal remedies when a purchased artwork is discovered to be an art forgery?
In this article, we discuss international copyright treaties, the minimum protection you may see from countries across the globe, as well as the enhanced rights only available in the United States.
What things should artists be negotiating as part of licensing or gallery contracts? We take a look at some of the most important along with a review of several standard provisions.
DMCA safe harbor shields internet service providers from any copyright infringement liability. Here's what artists can do to protect their work.
Street art remains controversial and the rights artists have over their works continues to be a messy subject but is it illegal?
