This section is about:
  • what copyright is and is not; 
  • what it covers and what it doesn't cover; and
  • why copyright is important to an artist or anybody who creates original work - particularly those earn their living or an income stream from their own original and creative work.
Artists rights vary depending on which country they live in
See the Copyright menu for details of global conventions on copyright and what happens in the UK, USA and Canada
Back to COPYRIGHT menu
NEXT: How to protect artwork online
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DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer and you should not rely on any assertions I make as legal advice.
​I'm just an ordinary artist and writer who is trying to
  • make sense of copyright in relation to visual art
  • understand what artists can do if their copyright is infringed and/or others act in such a way as to create orphan works from their copyright protected artwork.
These pages organise links to what seem to me to be relevant websites.
If you need the help of a lawyer you should engage a professional.​

WHAT COPYRIGHT IS
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What copyright covers

Copyright for artists covers all ORIGINAL artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculpture.

That means if you copied another work (e.g. a photograph taken by somebody else) your work is not original and does not enjoy copyright

What copyright does NOT cover 
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Copyright does NOT cover ideas, procedures, methods of operation or technical concepts as such. 
  • You cannot copyright nature | Making A Mark - you can only copyright those elements which are the artistic elements of the work - the aspects which you personally add to what nature created and make it distinctively your own work
REFERENCE:​
Intellectual property if you’re self-employed
If you’re self-employed, you usually own the intellectual property even if your work was commissioned by someone else - unless your contract with them gives them the rights

Intellectual property if you're employed
You usually will not own the intellectual property for something you created as part of your work while you were employed by someone else.
Intellectual property and your work | GOV.UK
There are two main forms of rights - economic rights and moral rights
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Copyright - economic rights
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You have an economic right as an artist to earn income from your creation of original work

You have a right to determine whether or not your work can be used by other people. 
  • You can authorise its use in writing by granting a licence or agreeing a contract which assigns the copyright
  • You can prohibit its use in terms of reproduction, adaptation, public performance, recording, broadcasting or translation
You have the right to decide, via a written licence, the fee for any licence granted for the use of your work for a specific period of time in relation to specific places where it might be reproduced or published

You have the right to invoice anybody who has used your work and infringed your copyright without your specific permission for the full value of any financial damage to the value or earnings. (However this needs to be a fair value and there also needs to be a real prospect of earnings. Evidence tends to come from past sales and licences granted with respect to similar works)

Copyright - moral rights
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You have a moral right as an artist to protect your non-economic interests - the integrity of your artwork and your reputation as an artist. 

You can claim authorship of a work. You have the right to oppose the use of your work or changes made to it which might damage it or your reputation.

Duration of Copyright
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Copyright usually lasts for 70 years after the artist's death

BUT specifics depend on where the artist lived.
​
REFERENCE:
How long copyright lasts | Gov.UK - specifies duration of copyright terms
The Copyright Zone: A Legal Guide For Photographers and Artists In The Digital Age
by Edward C. Greenberg J.D and Jack Reznicki ​
RECOMMENDED: An accessible guide to copyright (for the American marketplace). It's targeted at photographers, illustrators, artists who need to understand why and how images need to be protected and what their rights are - within the context of digital images and the internet.
​Easy to digest content covers:
  • what is and isn't copyrightable
  • copyright registration
  • fair use
  • model releases
  • contracts and invoices
  • pricing and negotiation
and a lot more! Plus it's accessible and easy to understand.
The authors are American and hence much of the content related to law has an American bias.  They also write a blog called The Copyright Zone - described as a survival blog for photographers, artists and the confused! 

Greenberg is a commercial litigator based in New York. Reznicki is an experienced and commercial people and children photographer.
Paperback: 352 pages
Published by Focal Press in 2015

USA: Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 45 customer reviews

BUY THIS BOOK

UK: Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars by 42 customer reviews 

BUY THIS BOOK

HOW YOU CAN PROTECT YOUR COPYRIGHT
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You can mark your work with the copyright symbol (©), your name and the year of creation

BUT (in the UK) you do NOT have to do this to make your copyright effective. It starts from when you complete the original work.

See more information in How to protect your artwork online
Copyright prevents people from:
  • - copying your work
  • - distributing copies of it, whether free of charge or for sale
  • - renting or lending copies of your work
  • - performing, showing or playing your work in public
  • - making an adaptation of your work
  • - putting it on the internet
  • How copyright protects your work | Gov.UK | Patents, trade marks, copyright and designs

Useful Tools
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Useful tools shared by the Copyright Advisory Network for evaluating copyright infringements and proper use of "fair use"
Patent, Copyright & Trademark: An Intellectual Property Desk Reference (16th edition)
by Richard Stim - author of Dear Rich - an intellectual property blog
This is NOT a book dedicated to artists - it's a general reference book marketed as a plain-English guide to intellectual property law (for those living in the US).
First published in 1996, it has been revised and updated on a regular basis since then.  
Its content is organised in four sections covering:
  • Patent Law
  • Copyright Law
  • Trademark Law
  • Trade Secret Law

These provide
  • a clear overview of all relevant laws (in the USA) - updated to provide the latest laws, court decisions, and sample application and other forms.
  • analysis of the different kinds of protection offered by patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets - and whether and how these apply to your work
  • a plain-English definition of every legal term 
This is the latest edition

Paperback: 648 pages
Publisher: NOLO; Sixteenth edition
Publication date: 28 April 2020

COPYRIGHT & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RESOURCES

Websites for artists
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These are websites where the authors have developed a comprehensive resource of information relevant to artists and media related copyright issues.

The Rights of Artists
Licensing​
Frequently Asked Questions

General Resources
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These are websites which provide good quality information but this is not specifically targeted at artists
  • ​Copyright Advisory Network - A community of librarians, copyright scholars, policy wonks. This website is a way for librarians to learn about copyright and seek feedback and advice from fellow librarians and copyright
  • BBC - Copyright Aware - a new website designed to help people explore more about their rights and the rights of others, plus details of where to find out more. 
  • Dear Rich: Nolo's Intellectual Property Blog - The Dear Rich staff provides easy-to-understand answers to questions about copyright, trademarks and patents (and related law).
  • The Ultimate Guide to Copyright | Whoishoistingthis - covers the most important issues concerning copyright law and its practical applications to you as a web master (see listing in right hand column)

​Non-Government Copyright sites (civil liberties)
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Artists' Rights: A Guide to Copyright, Moral Rights and Other Legal Issues in the Visual Art Sphere
by Molly Toreen Stretch
​The audience for this book probably leans more towards museums, professionals in the art business, and lawyers rather than artists and craftspeople working in the art economy.

It's published by the Institute of Art and Law and is
  • a more academic book 
  • very expensive.
It focuses on legal concepts in the intellectual property space and the overlaps between law which covers domestic contexts and an art economy which is international plus areas which could benefit from much more clarity.
The book covers:
  • What is art?
  • What is intellectual property?
  • International law, choice of law and the international and domestic application of intellectual property
  • What is protected by copyright?
  • Issues relating to ownership of copyright
  • Requirements for copyright protection
  • Exceptions to copyright
  • Related rights : performances 
  • Digitization
  • The rights of privacy and publicity
  • Moral rights
  • Artist's resale right and art collecting societies
  • Traditional cultural expressions
  • Art and fashion design
  • Art and trademark law and domain names
  • Art, industrial design and works of artistic craftsmanship
  • Contracts and dispute resolution.
Paperback: 254 pages
Publisher: Institute of Art and Law
Publication Date: January 6, 2015

BUY THIS BOOK
NEXT: How to protect artwork online

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