Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Copyright Law for Visual Artists

In answer to a number of comments and questions I've received concerning the use of photos by artists, I've discovered a number of links with more authoritative answers than I can give. I have no legal expertise in these matters except for that based on my personal experience, and nothing I write should be taken as legal advice.

Every visual artist needs to have familiarity with copyright law.

For an understandable overview of the issues involved, read Thomas G. Field Jr. at the Franklin Pierce Law School in New Hampshire. This Law School seems to take a special interest in the study of intellectual property issues.

For incite into what constitutes "Fair Use" of images, I found an interesting list of four points to consider in the Stanford Law School Library.

An extensive list of copyright resources for visual artists has been prepared by Sandra L. Brown, MFA, MSLS, a teacher in the Art Department of the Southwest Baptist University.

I'm sure there are many other, perhaps even better resources to check, but this is a start.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Sandra, Franklin Pierce Law Center takes a special interest in Intellectual Property. Tom Field is fabulous and another copyrights specialist is Mary Wong. We also have an Intellectual Property and Transaction Clinic where our law students take on cases of folks who do not have the resources for paid representation. Among others right now, they are working on a downloading case. Your readers can find out more at www.piercelaw.edu

February 18, 2009 at 7:21 AM

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