"Legal Basics for Artists" In Brooklyn

About 80 artists and a few lawyers attended the event, which consisted of a reception, panel discussion and Q&A. The program was held at the Diana H. Jones Senior Center in the heart of Bushwick, where photographer Daryl-Ann Saunders, curated a wonderful exhibit at the center itself.

… Each panelist spoke for 20 minutes, and Carol covered the basics of copyright and fair use, by focusing on how copyright is created, the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, work for hire, and the importance of registration. She showed images of Patrick Cariou’s photographs from Yes Rasta and the appropriated images in Richard Prince’ paintings, the subject of the Cariou v. Prince lawsuit, to illustrate the application of the fair use factors. Then she applied the legal basics to the BAM hypothetical and advised as to how the basic deal should be revised.

Richard Altman, who litigated at least two of the landmark Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) cases, told the stories of important moral rights cases and showed a wonderful clip of the sculptural installation which was the subject of the Carter v. Helmsley-Spear litigation. (Carter v. Helmsley-Spear 71 F.3d 77 (2d Cir.1995), cert.den. 517 U.S. 1208 (1996)). He shared the story of the Soho Wall case, where artist Forrest Myers had been commissioned to erect projections on the wall of a building at Houston and Broadway. (Board of Managers of Soho Int’l Arts Condominium v. City of New York, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9139 (S.D.N.Y. May 13, 2005)(decision after bench trial), 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17807 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2004)(summary judgment decision) and 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13201 (S.D.N.Y., July 29, 2003). Subsequently, when the owner of the landmarked building wanted to remove the sculpture to use the wall for advertising, the City Landmarks Preservation Commission refused to permit it. Three-way litigation then ensued among the City, the owner and Myers, who engaged Richard to defend his rights under VARA. …

Megan Maxwell then talked about contracts in general, typical agreements or lack thereof in the art world, and the artist consignment statute, which benefits artists by protecting the proceeds of sales of art and protects the art from the claws of creditors. Megan pointed out that contracts express the understanding of the parties and that many artists and galleries do not have written agreements. She discussed the basic provisions that should be included in artist gallery agreements and further described a gallery’s fiduciary obligations to the artist. …”