Maine VLA Blog

In 1990, Congress enacted the Visual Artist’s Rights Act (VARA), a piece of legislation that created certain rights for artists independent of real property or copyright ownership. Having roots in nineteenth-century French law, moral rights originated with the idea that an artwork is an extension of the artist’s identity, and the artist has the right to intervene if any manipulation of the work adversely affected his or her reputation. These rights are quite strong in France and other civil law countries, because they are based on personality law, not property law, as in the United States. Here, moral rights are weaker, in part because they doctrinally conflict with the American understanding of property. (For example, try telling the average person that he is the sole owner of the painting, but that he couldn’t throw it out if it didn’t fit into his new decorating scheme.)

VARA rights are explained in 17 United States Code § 106A. These rights are granted to the “author of a work of visual art” alone and are extinguished at the end of the calendar year of the artist’s death. VARA protects the artist’s right of attribution. In other words, the artist can “claim authorship” of a work he created or “prevent the use of his or her name” on any work he or she did not create. If the work was modified or distorted, the artist has the right to remove his or her name if not doing so would cause harm to his or her reputation. The artist can also prevent distortion under the same conditions. Finally, if the work is of “recognized stature”, the artist has the ability to prevent its destruction. A major limitation of VARA is that it only protects “works of visual art”, which is defined in the statute.

So, if you are an artist, know that you still have rights after ownership. And if you are a collector, know that all of these rights are waivable, if you can get the artist to forfeit them in writing.

For a quick look at VARA over the years, check out this article.