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Copyright and Art

by Robert Lederman

robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net
May 10, 2003

Library of Congress website: Click Here
Application forms for copyrighting works of visual art: Click Here

In 1995 I handed out hundreds of copies of the Library of Congress forms for copyrighting visual artwork to street artists and encouraged them to copyright their own art. Today A.R.T.I.S.T. continues to strongly encourages all artists - including craftspeople and jewelers - to copyright their original designs, paintings, photos, prints, drawings, computer art, videos etc. Along with copyrighting your art, it's a good idea to understand the actual copyright laws. See the list at the end for items of visual art that can be copyrighted.

Lately, there has been a suggestion by a political appointee of Alan Gerson that copyright could be used to "prove" that someone is an "original artist" and thus copyright could be used as a kind of street artist permit. This is an absurd notion from a source of many equally misguided ideas - all of which require a permit to be instituted.

As part of this effort to justify forcing a permit on artists the idea is being widely circulated by City officials and the political appointee connected to Alan Gerson that hundreds of street artists and art vendors are selling copyright infringed art (art that is being sold without permission of the copyright holder). This falsehood is being highly exaggerated for the purpose of making street artists look bad. However, even if every street artist in NYC were selling copyright infringed art, a permit would not address the problem.

Based on the Federal Constitution's First Amendment, the NY State Constitution's even stronger First Amendment and the rulings in lawsuits brought by numerous members of A.R.T.I.S.T. over a period of nine years street artists and art vendors need no license or permit. That means NO permit or permission of any kind, period. Once you understand a few facts about copyright you will see that copyright could not be the basis for a police officer to determine someone's identity, the authorship of a work or of them having the right to sell a work of art on the street.

Here are some brief Fiction/Fact points about copyright and the website for the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/) In the menu at this website you will find a lot of material on copyright and the webpage where you can download the actual copyright forms for free, fill them out and for a $30 fee and copyright hundreds of your images. The form you want is called Form VA: for published and unpublished works of the visual arts (pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, including architectural works). You must use this form not any other for works of visual art and you must follow the directions exactly. Here's the page address for the form you have to fill out and the directions on exactly how to do it: http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html

Fiction:
Having the copyright proves
you are the artist.

Any authorized person with permission can copyright a work of art, not just the artist or author. Publishers routinely copyright paintings, musical compositions, articles, books and even letters to the editor in the name of the publishing company, rather than the artist. When you send a letter to the editor to a newspaper, it is usually copyrighted in their name not yours and belongs to them. Works for hire (when a magazine hires you to do an illustration or take photos as just one example) are generally copyrighted in the name of the publisher. Copyright can be sold, given away, assigned and inherited. It also expires, so copyrighting a work is temporary (it now lasts for the authors' lifetime plus 70 years).

Many of the works being sold by art vendors that people imagine to be copyright-infringed are actually in the public domain.

Public Domain means the copyright has expired and anyone can use the images without permission. Even the copyrights on books and movies expire. Disney recently had the expiration date for copyrights extended by 20 years to keep Mickey Mouse from falling into the public domain where it could be freely used by anyone. Therefore, it's completely untrue that only the "original artist" who created it could legally hold the copyright for a work of art.

Fiction:
Having a photo ID which
corresponds to the name signed on
a work of art proves you
hold the copyright
and are the artist.

Fact: Since a copyright can be sold, assigned or inherited and can also expire, having a photo ID with the same name as the signature on a work of art proves nothing as far as copyright. If you make a painting and sell the copyright on it to an art vendor or art publisher, your name is still on the painting (and on your ID) but he owns the copyright. Likewise, his ID would not have your name on it. If an art vendor was making copies of public domain images, his photo ID would have a different name than the one on the work and there would be no copyright infringement. If the husband, wife or child of an artist who died were to vend their art the vendors name would not be on the art but they may have inherited the copyright. There are thousands of other examples of why copyright is not proven by a photo ID. The only real proof of copyright is a time stamped receipt of copyright from the Library of Congress.

Fiction:
Copyright is automatic as soon
as you create a work,
so there is no need to
officially copyright your art
with the Library of Congress.

Fact: Copyright is automatic but proving copyright in front of a judge is very difficult if you have not officially copyrighted the work. Proof in a court of law does not involve showing your photo ID and stating that you made the work. Proof means objective, verifiable evidence such as a dated, time stamped notice of copyright from the Library of Congress Copyright Office.

If you do not actually copyright the work you can still sue if someone uses it without your permission, but even if you win you will not get the legal fees, only the damages, which could be minimal. Let's say someone took a photo of your painting and made 100 postcards out of it and they sold all 100 copies at $1 each. You could sue them for damages, which would only amount to $100 but the legal fees might come to $100,000. In practice, most lawyers won't take a copyright case unless the work was officially copyrighted so they can get their legal fee from the defendant. Of course, you can pay the lawyer their fee upfront, but paying the lawyer a giant fee to recover minimal damages is not very practical. People create very similar paintings, movies, books, photographs and songs all the time and proving who created a work first is not as easy as you might think.

The idea that the streets are filled with copyright infringed art is greatly exaggerated and is being spread for a specific purpose. This claim is motivated solely by a desire to impose a permit on street artists. A permit will have no effect on copyright infringement but it will lead to all artists losing their rights. Don't fall for this scam.

Protect Your Rights Many street artists are legitimately concerned about protecting their copyright. If protecting the economic value of your art is important to you then you should officially copyright it without further delay. It takes four steps: A. Download the proper form VA from the Library of Congress website B. Fill it out correctly and exactly according to the included instructions C. Include copies of all the images you want to copyright. Make sure none were previously copyrighted or published anywhere previously, such as in an art magazine. Title your submission: The collected works of (your name). In this way you can copyright hundreds of images at once for one small fee of $30. 4. Once you get a time-stamped form acknowledging receipt of your works, you are now officially copyrighted and your rights are protected.

Here's the first page of instructions from the Library of Congress website. You'll need the actual forms to complete the application.

---------------------------------------------------- Visual Arts

Step 1 Make sure your work is a visual arts work. Visual arts are pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art. Here are examples of visual arts. "Useful articles" may have both copyrightable and noncopyrightable features (read details). Some architectural works also qualify as visual arts works. (read details).
Step 2 Put into one envelope or package
a completed application Form VA
a $30 payment to "Register of Copyrights."
nonreturnable copy(ies) of the material to be registered. Read details on deposit requirements. Step 3 Send the package to
Library of Congress Copyright Office 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
Please read this important notice about mail delivery disruption.
Your registration becomes effective on the day that the Copyright Office receives your application, payment, and copy(ies) in acceptable form. If your submission is in order, you will receive a certificate of registration in 4 to 5 months.

For more details, please see Circular 40, Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts; Circular 40a, Deposit Requirements in Visual Arts Material; Circular 41, Copyright Claims in Architectural Works; Circular 44, Cartoons and Comic Strips and other informational circulars. ------------------------------------------------

Here's the Library of Congress list of copyrightable items from the same website: --------------------------------------------

Visual Arts Works For copyright purposes, visual arts are original pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, which include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art.

Examples of visual arts works:

Advertisements, commercial prints, labels Artificial flowers and plants Artwork applied to clothing or to other useful articles Bumper stickers, decals, stickers Cartographic works, such as maps, globes, relief models Cartoons, comic strips Collages Dolls, toys Drawings, paintings, murals Enamel works Fabric, floor, and wallcovering designs Games, puzzles Greeting cards, postcards, stationery Holograms, computer and laser artwork Jewelry designs Models Mosaics Needlework and craft kits Original prints, such as engravings, etchings, serigraphs, silk screen prints, woodblock prints Patterns for sewing, knitting, crochet, needlework Photographs, photomontages Posters Record jacket artwork or photography Relief and intaglio prints Reproductions, such as lithographs, collotypes Sculpture, such as carvings, ceramics, figurines, maquettes, molds, relief sculptures Stained glass designs Stencils, cut-outs Technical drawings, architectural drawings or plans, blueprints, diagrams, mechanical drawings Weaving designs, lace designs, tapestries --------------------------------------------------------------------

To a Directory of Mr.Lederman's Essays

Robert Lederman is an artist, writer and activist and is also the President of the street artist advocacy group, A.R.T.I.S.T.
Click here for an archive of A.R.T.I.S.T. related news articles on the Freedom Forum website

His essays and Op-Eds have appeared in hundreds of alternative publications as well as the Daily News, Penthouse, Africa Sun Times, Street News and The Shadow.
Lederman was falsely arrested 41 times for his anti-Giuliani activities and was never convicted of any of the charges. As a result of the arrests, he's won four Federal lawsuits and overturned three laws.
He is best known for having created hundreds of paintings of Mayor Giuliani as a Hitler like dictator which were carried in demonstrations throughout the eight years of the Giuliani administration. Images of his paintings and articles about his arrests and lawsuits have appeared on all of the major television networks hundreds of times as well as frequently appearing in the NY Times, Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Newsweek, People, The Washington Post, LA Times and NY Magazine.

Robert Lederman,
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)
robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net

For a detailed exposition on the West Nile issue
http://www.nospray.org/
For an article on the Manhattan Institute go to
http://www.konformist.com/2000/rudyg.htm

If you would like to help oppose the spraying,
please write to the
No Spray Coalition
PO Box 334
Peck Slip Station
NYC, NY 10272-0334
or call the No Spray hotline at (718) 670-7110.

Any funds you can send to help continue the lawsuit
and this work are greatly appreciated.

Important Note:
Mr. Lederman has explained that his articles posted here are not to be taken as official statements by the No-Spray Coalition of which he is a member or of the "No-Spray" lawsuit in which he is a plaintiff.

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