Artist Rights to the US?

As Droit de suite advances and expands in the UK, the Antiques Trade Gazette is reporting on increased discussion and proposed legislation to introduce artist rights bills in the US.  The ATG reports the Artists Rights Society is now behind proposed legislation which would advance artist resale rights and apply to auction sales, galleries would be exempt.  This eliminates a large number of dealers from the requirement of tracking and reporting, and probably removes a large group of opponents who would contest the bill. 

By taking galleries out of the equation and introducing a limited form of droit de suite to US auction houses certainly advances the artist resale rights cause.  The strategy appears to be part of a longer term effort which introduces droit de suite to the US incrementally, first at the auction house.  And, although they dont state is, I would expect it to be introduced to galleries at a later date if the earlier proposals are passed.

Artist resale rights are something appraisers should be aware of, and should be monitored and tracked as it expands in the UK during 2012.  The impact to auctions and dealers should be closely monitored in order to gauge the impact if in fact US proposals do in fact advance.

The ATG reports

As the spectre of droit de suite for artists’ heirs looms large over the British art market, the main copyright and licensing collecting agency in the United States is pushing to see the debate over artists’ resale rights revived on Capitol Hill.


Previous attempts to bring an artists' royalties scheme to the US have largely failed. The late Senator Edward Kennedy tried to enact the resale right in the 1980s as part of the Visual Artists' Rights Act but it proved so contentious that it was removed from the final draft.

However, Theodore Feder, president of the Artists' Rights Society (ARS) believes the new proposal is different as it will not apply to works of art sold through galleries – only those sold at auction.
This fudge would largely excuse US dealers of the bureaucracy faced by Europe's art trade and bypass a vocal community that has objected whenever the migration of droit de suite across the Atlantic has been mooted.

The ARS's champion is the high-profile advocate Bruce Lehman, a former commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office who helped draft the original 1976 US copyright law.

As acting president of the International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts, the artist Frank Stella attended this year's World Copyright Summit in Brussels in June to push for resale rights in the United States.

Should the ARS be successful in introducing their abridged version of resale rights into federal law, it would certainly soften one of the most powerful arguments used in opposing the levy in Europe, that the art market doesn't respect national boundaries.

The debate in Britain has been reignited as the 2012 deadline approaches, when the levy will be extended beyond its current form (benefiting only living artists) to include artists' heirs or estates up to 70 years after their death.