Three Cases Every Artist Should Know...and Update

You know that you need to understand more about your legal rights. You want to protect your work and avoid problems. Where to start? Would you like to learn how to protect your work? Seeking guidance as to how to use work that is out there, or how to protect your work from distortion or mutilation? If so, this is the course for you. This webinar will give visual artists an introduction to these basic artists’ rights in plain English—no legalese.

In this webinar, you will get an introduction to three important areas of the law that govern visual art:

• The first case will introduce you to the basics of Copyright Law by discussing a lawsuit in which a photographer successfully sued various news outlets for using his photographs without payment or attribution.
• The second case will introduce the basics of Fair Use—when an artist can legally use another artist’s copyrighted work. The case used to illustrate this concept involved the photographer Patrick Cariou and appropriation artist Richard Prince. A more recent decision in a case by photographer Lynn Goldsmith against Andy Warhol may further clarify this concept.
• Finally, the third case illustrates the concept of moral rights—how to protect your artwork from distortion, mutilation, or destruction. The landmark 5 Pointz case illustrates how artists can successfully assert their rights in the face of powerful opposing forces.
  

Presenter: Carol Steinberg, Faculty, School of Visual Arts, and Attorney in New York City and the East End of Long Island, NY