Keeping Copyright

This posting is from a series of conversations that can be found all of this week on the public art blog salon hosted by Americans for the Arts.

Posted by Sarah Conley On April - 12 - 2011

Interest in copyright issues has changed dramatically in the last 10 years due to more awareness of the potential value in intellectual property.

No doubt much of the new focus has trickled down from the digital development of corporate entities better able to direct resources to intellectual property protection than the average artist.

The rise in popularity of hedge funds collecting fine art also contributed to the growing consciousness of the value of protecting creative works.

Certainly, some creative works serve the artistic and scientific community better if they are freely available for use and part of the public domain. And those who wish to purposely place their work into the public domain regardless of the communal value should be free to do so.

However, intellectual property ownership is often one of the few things artists can use as currency in negotiating compensation for projects. Thus, it is imperative that artists do what they can to maintain ownership of as much of their intellectual property as possible. Read the rest of this entry »