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.
How do I get permission to use copyrighted material (film, photography, literature, music etc)?
Normal practice for artists wishing to use copyright protected material in their own new works is to write to the copyright owner, explain what the new work…
ArtlawTV: Ben White and Eileen Simpson on A Cultural Commons
A Cultural Commons – alternative approaches to copyright and the distribution of material Ben White and Eileen Simpson created the Open Music Archive to distribute music that no longer has…
Ignorantia Lex Non Fit Defensia
Copyright in the visual arts is the inherent right of a creator over his/her artistic work to prevent other people copying that work. I received a novel and remarkable press release last month, issued by…
What counts as an affordable rent?
An ‘affordable studio provider’ is an organisation managing buildings (or parts of buildings), providing affordable studio spaces. An affordable rent is usually considered one third of the open market rent.
Copyright and Moral Rights: New Legislation (moral rights)
This article explains what are Moral Rights. On August 1, 1989 the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 comes into force. In March, we began a three part exploration of key changes…
Online Sales
Banksy has become the target of a print fraud, it was exclusively revealed by The Art Newspaper (October 2007): ‘unauthorised works by the anonymous graffiti artist have been sold on the internet; prices for these have been illegally…
Bankrupt Galleries: A Cautionary Tale
Art galleries too are not recession proof, but what happens to the stock, the artwork, when they cease trading may be more complicated and certainly is unnerving for the artists involved. Auctions of liquidated stock…
Public Sculpture
Sculptures situated in public places can easily be photographed, filmed, or drawn without the knowledge of the sculptor, and such two dimensional reproductions might equally easily be merchandised commercially. What rights, if any, do sculptors have over their…
What if I want to include information about other people in my artwork?
You need to be aware of and observe the requirements of both the UK’s confidentiality laws (enshrined in, amongst others, Articles 8 and 12 of the Human…
Common Sources
Jack Vettriano’s oil painting, Reach Out and Touch (February/June), 2003, was sold last year for around £35,000. It depicts a rear view of the artist, bespectacled and wearing a white collared shirt and black trousers with forked braces,…
©autionary Tales: Of Hoffman
Tale One In October of last year photographer David Hoffman successfully prosecuted London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Councillor Barrie Duffey (Liberal), for distributing a leaflet which violated Hoffman’s copyright. The leaflet is not a grand affair:…
Digital Archives
Archiving artists’ works and related material has been greatly facilitated in recent years by significant advances in digital technology, which has stimulated museums and galleries to consider not only digitally archiving material in their collections, but also its…
Beware of Artists Bearing Gifts
It is still common and customary practice for artists to donate works to friends, family, museums and galleries. And it is equally common that such gifts are executed by informal methods, which can and often…
Famous last words
Andy Warhol died in 1987. In the few years since his death his Estate has been beset by no fewer than three serious and complex legal wrangles. In Britain the death of Henry Moore in 1986 has…
Public Art Commissions: Part 2
Last month’s column continues. Phase 2: Fabrication, fees and costs In this phase, the parties will be contemplating their having a successful design/model/maquette which will need to be fabricated; in which case, they will need…
Performance Art
In 1964 Joseph Beuys gave an improvised 30 minute performance broadcast live on Germany’s second public television channel ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), which he called Marcel Duchamp’s Silence Is Overrated. The performance was not taped but Beuys allowed…
Leibovitz Futures
‘One of the world’s most successful photographers essentially pawned every snap of the shutter she had made or will make until the loans are paid off’: thus reported the New York Times on February 24 2009, breaking the…
Deceased Artists
Through a public consultation paper issued in June 2008, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has been seeking the views of art market professionals, artists, representatives of artists’ collecting societies, and from deceased artists’ estates, in order to…