Visual Artist Resale Rights Essay

During class, a topic was brought up that was very interesting and needed to be further investigated and researched. There has been a battle over copyright, intellectual rights, moral rights, and resale rights of artists in the United States. There have been laws passed that deal with these rights along with lawsuits that have appeared to the courts. Artist resale rights are also important to focus on because there are some differing opinions between government officials and artists themselves. Copyright is something that is heard frequently, but not many people fully understand. As stated on the Artists Rights Society website, “Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States…to the creators of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, …show more content…
Because artists are the authors of original works, they are included in this description and are protected under the 1976 Copyright Act. Some artists also have the rights of attribution and …show more content…
The “Visual Artists Rights Act” page on Wikipedia states that the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, or VARA, is a law that grants certain rights to artists. It was the first federal legislation of copyright that protected moral rights, but it only applies to works that meet certain requirements. Before this act, federal law did not recognize moral rights, but some states did. Under VARA, the author of the work has these rights: right to claim authorship, right to prevent the use of one’s name on any work the author did not create, right to prevent use of one’s name on any work that has been distorted, mutilated, or modified in a way that would be prejudicial to the author’s honor or reputation, and right to prevent distortion, mutilation, or modification that would prejudice the author’s honor or