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ARTISTS' RIGHTS
This section includes examples of pleadings, judicial opinions, and articles (both from the press and legal articles) about artists' rights. They are provided here because we often receive requests from other attorneys, artists, and agencies for information about artists rights and requests for copies of pleadings.
These materials are provided for reference and research purposes only. They may not be filed with any court, and do not constitute legal advice of any kind. Pleadings and opinions are from our cases and cases that other attorneys have prosecuted on behalf of artists, and particularly focus on the federal Visual Artists' Rights Act and the California Art Preservation Act. Since few cases about visual artists' rights have been litigated to and through the appellate courts, there are few published opinions available to practitioners as authority. The District Court judicial orders included here are of particular use to practitioners seeking guidance about the viability of VARA claims. Those orders include findings and injunctive relief ordered in the Northern District of California in the Lilli Ann mural case, and New York District Court opinion stating that the question of whether a work of art is of recognized stature is a question for the jury, and not amenable to summary judgment. All those orders apply only to the specific case before the specific court, but they do serve to show that VARA has real teeth, notwithstanding the sparse available precedential authority.
