PROTECT
Every artist has heard the term "exposure" in their careers. And it's usually not a good thing. Your rights as an artist are important and deserve to be respected by fans, followers, collectors, gallerists, businesses, or anyone else hoping to support your artistic endeavors.
Our legal counsel is Zach Warkentin of Warkentin LLC, 1244 Corona St., Denver, CO 80218. Warkentin LLC provides legal services for artists and creatives. We recommend you discuss any legal questions or issues you may have with an entertainment attorney like Zach.
This page offers links to other sites with more information about every subject. Take time to read through everything and understand your rights, your options, your resources and more.
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If you have specific or situational questions, please consider contacting Zach Warkentin, or contact us and we will do our best to point you in the right direction of a great entertainment attorney to assist you — we are here to help!
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Finally, we offer services to artists to assist with many of the business-related tasks of being an artist. We want artists to focus on creating, not on filing paperwork and negotiating for higher payments. Our services range from assisting with business formation, writing artwork commission agreements, applying for grants, and more. Contact us for more information about these services.
Copyright
The Copyright Act has two requirements in order for a piece of artwork to technically be copyright protected.
1) Is the work original?
2) Has the work been affixed in a permanent way?
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If the answers to both of those questions is yes, then the artist has the sole right to reproduce the work in any way including publishing, printing, reproducing, and adapting the original.
There are many nuances that unfold inside copyright law, and recently there's been quite a few court cases between street artists and major corporations regarding the use of public art in advertising campaigns without compensating the artist. The best advice is to submit copyright protection (you can do that here!) for any public piece of art you create and be ready to take it to court if someone violates the terms.
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More resources to check out:
ArtCop - Murals, Graffiti Art Copyright & VARA
Full text for the United States Copyright Act
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Contracts
Coming soon!
All information provided on this page is for informational purposes only and not intended to be legal advice.