Archive of Henry Lydiate‘s Artlaw column, published in Art Monthly since 1976. Have a legal question about your career? Check our Directory or send us a legal query.
Theft, Lies & Videotape
It is trite, but true, to say that the marketplace has become global in its scope and access has become virtually instant. The visual art marketplace now shares many more common technological features with, say, the…
The Right to Destroy Artwork
Michael Landy’s Break Down installation on London’s Oxford Street opened to the public for two weeks in February 2001, and made national broadcast news headlines following the press view. The work was commissioned by The…
Postmodern Artwork
Just like the proverbial long wait at the bus stop and then three buses come along at once, there has been a bumper crop of recent illuminating copyright lawsuits involving works by artists as diverse as Richard Prince,…
Art & Copyright
Most UK lawyers know little about intellectual property law, because it has never been a compulsory subject for professional qualification. Simon Stokes, Art & Copyright, Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon, 2001, 184pp, £25.00, 1 84113 225…
Copyright and Moral rights: New legislation (part 1)
In May or June 1989, visual artists’ and craftspeoples’ rights will be substantially improved when the new Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988 comes into force. Key changes anticipated were signposted…
ArtlawTV
A series of short films exploring the main legal issues that artists face. Each film comprises an interview with an artist about their work, with an overview of the legal implications of their practice by Henry Lydiate, art legal…
When I Paint my Masterpiece
Dear Henry, Recently I was amazed to see a portrait I had painted reproduced photographically on a poster in the city where I live. I managed to acquire a copy of the poster and saw…
Copyright and Moral rights: New legislation (introduction)
On October 30 1987, the Government introduced into the House of Lords the long overdue measure to reform the law of copyright and other intellectual property: The Copyright, Designs and Patents Bill'. It…
Copyright and Moral rights: New legislation (part 3)
What remedies are available for Copyright Infringements? Last month’s column continued our three part examination of the new Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, shortly coming into force (the precise date will…
Photographing Art Collections
In May 2007 a conference was held in London to discuss a leading court judgment, made in 1999, which ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright because the copies…
Stamp of Approval
The Stamp Art and Postal History of Michael Thompson and Michael Hernandez de Luna was recently published in the US and makes fascinating reading. The authors are mail artists, who teamed up in 1994 to pursue their…
Monumental Manoeuvres in the Dark
The destruction of a sculpture the Government specifically commissioned and permanently installed on a national site is one of the more outrageous of the issues raised recently. I don’t care How many letters they sent…
Recording Visiting Speakers
This piece considers key legal and ethical issues involved. Copyright in speech is the first issue. Copyright is an economic right, lasting for the lifetime of an author plus 70 years after the end of the year…
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Alteration, defacement, mutilation, modification, deterioration and destruction of artworks are matters usually ignored at the outset by artists, their commissioners and/or buyers. In future columns we will look at the conservation concerns of keepers of…
Self-Expression and the Law
On Tuesday 25 October 1977 Kerry Trengove was sealed inside a 15ft x 10ft breeze block bunker on the ground floor of the Acme Gallery in Covent Garden. He then dug a 3ft sq. hole to…
Originality
Last year’s Turner Prize controversy was pure artlaw territory and deserves closer examination. It concerned one of four short listed artists, Glenn Brown and his large canvas Loves of Shepherds, 2000. Full colour reproductions of the work were splashed…
Court Cases
It is unusual for there to be a sufficient number of artlaw cases to report between Issues, but this month there is a wealth of them. Duchamp’s urinals In 1998 a French artist, Pierre Pinoncelli, committed criminal damage…
Nothing is Forever
It seems that the number of artists whose works suffer minor indignities or major censorship at the hands of the powerful will continue to increase until kingdom come. But nothing, as Pat Lally observed, is forever. Pat…