VARA Not Violated by Viewing Very Incomplete Artwork

A contemporary art museum in Massachusetts has the right to display an unfinished artwork even over the objections of the artist, rules a federal court, as reported in the NY Times.

The Visual Artists Rights Act is one of the few U.S. laws that deal with "moral rights" - rights such as the right to attribution, that the creator retains even if he sells a work and its copyright. VARA also allows an artist to remove his name from a work in the event of a "distortion, mutilation, or other modification" of the work.

However, the judge ruled, VARA says nothing about works that are unfinished, so the museum can display the work so long as it includes a disclaimer that the work is not complete.

VARA applies only to fine art works, sculpture and art photography, but not to writing, motion pictures, or other works protected by copyright. Moral rights in Europe are much broader.

Bespoke IP

The Fall shopping season has begun. While the rest of us buy clothes, the fashion industry is shopping for new IP protection, reports the NY Times. Fashion designs have very little protection under copyright, but the newly-revised Design Piracy Prohibition Act aims to change that, prohibiting copying of the overall appearance of clothing, handbags, belts and eyeglass frames. This specialized form of copyright would be for a term of three years.

In contrast to the designs themselves, fashion logos and designer names are already protected, by trademark law. In fact, the WSJ recently reported that designer Joseph Abboud can no longer use his own name as a trademark - he sold it. After two years out of the business, he's back, but under a new brand name ("jaz"), and in competition with the owners of his own name.

BTW, the customized form of protection proposed by the Design Piracy Prohibition Act serves as a reminder that there are many forms of IP, each with different (but sometimes overlapping) subject matter. A short list includes:

• Copyrights: Works of authorship, such as books, movies, music, software, art, characters.
• Trademarks: Logos, brand names, slogans, book and movie titles (sometimes), characters.
• Trade Dress: Overall look of a product or service.
• Patents: Inventions, processes, business processes (incl. Internet), software, designs.
• Trade Secrets: Confidential information with economic value
• Moral Rights ("Droit Moral"): Creative rights, such as the right to receive credit (attribution) or not have a work destroyed; limited applicability in U.S.
• Mask Works: Semiconductor chip layouts
• Designs: vessel hulls (boats) and fashion designs (if the proposed bill is enacted)