Moral Rights: A moral story with your art as the main character.
Ever imagine that as an artist you someday see your commissioned work used for pro-life propaganda even though you frequently work with a pro-choice non-profit and now they might not work with you, professionally or otherwise.You never owned the copyright, as the work was for hire and is now years old. Is there anything you can do?The answer under copyright law: possibly, depending on the type of art. Recently added to the law books is something called moral rights, which if you are an artist. It can mean the difference between controlling your valuable artistic brand and watching your art being used regardless of what it means to your reputation.
What are Moral Rights?
The US has expanded copyright laws to protect artists financially. However, only recently has US copyright laws have started to show its appreciation toward the strong relationship between an artist and the works they create. Moral rights are there to help protect an artist’s ‘image.’ It is the notion that your art is the image of your career, or your professional integrity is based on what you create. Even if you no longer own the copyright to your work that work can still hurt your professional reputation. Moral rights should help to give you a legal standing to help defend yourself through such a situation. You do not need to have ever owned the copyright and you will still maintain your moral rights. Moral rights can be waived though, preferably in writing.
Is your art protected by Moral Rights?
In 1989 the US signed the Berne Convention, a massive international copyright treaty, but to be compliant, the US needed to add moral rights to the law books. Thus the Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA) of 1990 was created. VARA is an improvement for artists’ rights, but sadly it covers a limited range of art. Only paintings, prints, sculptures, and limited edition photographs under 200 (singed and dated) are covered. While posters, motion pictures, audiovisual works, books, magazines, electronic media, advertisements, packaging materials are not included under moral rights law. The reason for the limited scope is simple; this country’s legal attitude toward art is to treat it like any other commodity. Regardless, it would be nice to see the range of art expanded as it is hard enough making a living from art and the law should help artists, not burden them further.
The Nitty Gritty
Moral rights cover four rights: paternity, divulgence, attribution, and integrity. The first two are important but are used less frequently. The right of paternity allows an artist to claim or disclaim their work. While the right of divulgence gives the artist the sole ability to state when a work is completed.
The right of attribution is an important right as it gives the artist the ability to claim or disclaim authorship – mainly using their name on a work. One example would be an artist creates a commissioned painting for a patron and the patron decides to start telling people that he created the work. While the patron owns the rights to the painting the moral rights remain with the original artist. Therefore, under VARA, the artist can legally stop the patron from claiming the work as his own and have his name attached to the work. If the artist has suffered any indemnities from the patron’s actions then the artist can sue for damages. Inversely, if an artist creates an image which becomes infamous in a way the artist feels uncomfortable with having their name associated with the work, then he can file to have their named removed from the work.
The right of integrity protects the artist’s integrity through maintaining the original artistic intent of the artwork. For instance, a sculptor creates a wooden carving on commission for a children’s museum. Later the museum sells the piece in a fundraiser to a corporation. The corporate advertising team decides to paint it to match the company colors and put it in a commercial. At this point, the sculptor can sue as the art has not only been modified but the misrepresentation of her art is now wide spread. Another example is an installation piece within a building that was purchased by a company and then the whole building is scheduled to be demolished. The artist can file an injunction to stop the demolition and save the work, as she has the right to stop her art from destruction.
Moral rights are a key concept in protecting artists’ work and their reputations. They can save your art from misrepresentation or destruction, protect your relationship with clients and preserve your valuable artistic image. However, to truly be effective, moral rights needs to expand to include more types of artists and the various works they create.
For more information on moral rights:
Chelsea Wilson: a visual artist in pursuit of a law degree.
I became interested in copyright law after realizing the amount of outdated and bad information floating around. Understanding that copyright laws and the rights it gives to the owner of artwork is the bread and butter of the artist world. So, I decided to research the topic and translate it into layman terms so artist can have an easier time understanding 
their rights.
The Ideas of Chelsea 
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