Artist Copyrights

The rights of visual artists (painters, drawers, sculptors, etc.) are legally protected in much the same way that a writer copyrights a book they have written, or a musician copyrights the notes or lyrics of a song they have created.  In most cases artists work very diligently to create their art, and therefore country governments protect those rights through copyright laws.

When an artist sells an original work of visual art (pictorial, graphical, or sculptural works including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art), they are usually selling only the physical piece of original art itself.  They are usually not selling the unlimited rights to the image, including the right to create copies (electronic or physical) of the image.

If you purchase an original work of art, you then own that art and you do have the right to display it, destroy it, or resell it.  If reselling the art, you do have the right to display a copy of the original art physically or electronically in order to promote its sale.  You do not have the right to copy the image and sell the copies (electronic, or physical copies, prints or posters), or use the image to promote a business (for example, a billboard, or as part or whole of a business logo).  To receive full rights to an original piece of art and it’s image, it is suggested you obtain those rights in writing from the artist, or someone who has derived those rights from the artist (author) at the time of sale.

Under the present copyright law of the United States, effective 1/1/1978, a visual artist’s art is automatically protected by copyright when it is created.  For artistic works published on or after 3/1/1989, the use of the copyright notice is optional.