Category Archives: Copyright

Proposed restrictions on rights of photographers

Posted on: June 25, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

A proposed reform to copyright law, due to be voted on next month by the European Parliament, could lead to restrictions being imposed on the right to use photographs of modern buildings and public artworks, such as statues. At present, UK law allows such images to be used freely by the photographer, a right known […]

Copyright calculator for EU

Posted on: April 23, 2015 by Alexander Herman

For those of you who have taken the IAL’s Diploma in Intellectual Property and Collections (DipIPC) course, you will know that an important module of the course deals with the duration of copyright. This can be an especially challenging issue when it comes to the visual arts, where digitisation can make a work instantaneously available throughout the world. But different […]

Art & IP Diploma course in London – 10-12 June 2015

Posted on: April 10, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

Back by popular demand, radehe IAL’s Diploma in Intellectual Property & Collections (DipIPC) Course will be run again this year over three full days in London, from the 10th to the 12th of June 2015. The course will cover all areas of IP that affect the art world and is designed for museum professionals and others in […]

Earthquakes and Digital Archiving in New Zealand

Posted on: March 17, 2015 by Rosemary Baird

As reported in my last post, on 4 September 2010 an earthquake of 7.1 magnitude struck the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It was followed by thousands of aftershocks, including one of 6.3 magnitude on 22 February 2011 which caused widespread destruction and 185 deaths. Since the earthquakes, the people and institutions of Canterbury have been recording their experiences. […]

New ‘fair use’ guide for artists, art historians and art critics

Posted on: March 4, 2015 by Alexander Herman

For those intrigued, perplexed or in need of a practical guide on how to deal with that beast known as the ‘fair use’ exception in US copyright law, look no further. The College Art Association, the professional body of those who work in art, art history and art criticism in the United States, has just released its long […]

Copyright and Cultural Heritage 2.0 in Edinburgh

Posted on: February 3, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The Institute of Art & Law was happy to participate in a conference entitled Copyright and Cultural Heritage 2.0, hosted by The Scotsman and Shepherd & Wedderburn solicitors, in association with the Scottish Council on Archives. The conference took place at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. On the agenda were a number of issues […]

Big Eyes: An IP perspective?

Posted on: January 6, 2015 by Alexander Herman

The new Tim Burton film, Big Eyes, was released over the holidays. It tells the story of American painter Margaret Keane (née Hawkins), whose works for the most part depicted young waif-like girls with enlarged, often tearful, eyes. Throughout the 1960s, as the paintings became increasingly popular, Margaret’s husband, Walter, would pass them off as his own. The paintings […]

New Orphan Works Rules In Force

Posted on: November 3, 2014 by Alexander Herman

As of 29 October 2014 – last Wednesday – the new Orphan Works scheme was in force throughout the European Union. This was the system introduced by the Orphan Works Directive 2012/28, which allows a number of institutions, including museums, to make available large numbers of works for which copyright owners could not be identified or […]

‘Yes, but is it good for artists?’ New copyright exceptions in UK law

Posted on: September 29, 2014 by Alexander Herman

This is a big week for copyright exceptions in UK law. Wednesday will see enter into force no less than three exceptions making permissible use of copyright material that otherwise would be considered infringement. These will effectively expand the ways in which users of copyright material can make use of that material. The first of these […]

Damien Hirst wall painting sparks dispute

Posted on: July 16, 2014 by Alexander Herman

A dispute has recently arisen involving a work by famed spot-painter Damien Hirst. The series of multi-coloured spots had been painted directly on the wall of a home in Fulham, London in 1988. Hirst then issued the owners with a certificate of authenticity dated April 1989. The house was then sold (twice) and the current owners removed the spot […]