Copyright includes a set of that control how the work can be used and exploited commercially. These rights allow the copyright holder to decide who may use the work, under what conditions, and for what purposes.
In visual arts, these rights usually include:
– making physical or digital copies of the artwork;
– placing the artwork or its copies on the market;
– exhibiting the artwork to the public (this is only considered a separate right in certain countries);
– creating new, derivative, or transformed versions of the artwork;
and broadcasting – showing or transmitting the artwork to the public, for instances through television or online.
Exclusive economic rights allow artists to control how their works circulate in society and how they generate income. These rights determine when others need permission to use an artwork and ensure that artists can be compensated for uses that have commercial, cultural, or public value. For example:
when a museum produces a catalogue with images of artworks, the reproduction right is involved;
when a gallery prints posters or postcards featuring a painting, or sells digital downloads, the artist’s permission is needed because copies are being created and distributed, so reproduction and distribution rights are involved;
when an exhibition is livestreamed to an international audience, the artist’s work is being “communicated to the public”, so communication to the public right is involved;
when a sculpture is turned into a 3D animation or a textile pattern, adaptation and/or reproduction rights come into play;
when an artwork is publicly shown in a commercial context, such as an airport, hotel, or promotional installation, display rights may be relevant, depending on national law; reproduction rights may also be relevant where photographs or films of the artwork are made.
Read more on Reproduction Right, Distribution Right, Public Display and Exhibition Rights, Communication to the Public, and Adaptation Right.
In some countries, visual artists may also benefit from additional economic rights, which are not exclusive.
For example, in some countries, artists receive an additional royalty when their original artworks are resold on the secondary art market—this is known as the , or “droit de suite”. Certain jurisdictions regulate how artworks in public spaces may be photographed or filmed, especially when the images are used commercially. Artists may also have or , which protect the use of their own likeness, name, or persona in commercial contexts.
Read more on Resale Right (Droit de Suite) and Image Rights and Publicity Rights.
Duration of Copyright (Economic Rights)
The duration of economic rights differs across countries. In many jurisdictions, protection lasts for the life of the artist plus 70 years, while others apply lifetime plus 50 years (which is the minimum protection standard applicable under the ), and some extend protection up to lifetime plus 100 years.
Certain categories of works may have shorter terms, such as some photographs or applied art, which in a few countries are protected for significantly fewer years than other creative works. Under the , the minimum term for these categories can be as short as 25 years from creation, though many countries apply longer terms in practice.
After the protection period ends, the work enters the , where it can be used without permission.
Read our Public Domain in Visual Arts page to learn more.
How Artist Can Use These Rights
Economic rights can be transferred, fully or partially. This means that artist can keep all the rights themselves, sell them outright, or license them to others for certain purposes or territories.
For example, an artist might grant worldwide reproduction rights to a publisher, or only grant local exhibition rights to a museum. When rights are assigned outright, the acquirer becomes the new rights holder within the scope of what was transferred. When rights are licensed rather than assigned, the artist remains the rights holder, and the licensee only receives permission to use the work on the agreed terms.
Read our Rights Transfer and Licensing topic to learn more.
At the same time, artists may also rely on to administer certain rights, especially when monitoring or collecting royalties from many uses of the artwork would be too complex to manage individually.
Image credit: Manuel-F-O