Legal Guide for the Visual Artist by Tad Crawford

Legal Guide for the Visual Artist by Tad Crawford

Author:Tad Crawford [Tad Crawford]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781581157710
Publisher: Allworth


Droit de Suite

The artist who sells original art seldom benefits from appreciation of the art in the future. Because of this, in 1920, France created the droit de suite, a right of artists to share in the proceeds from sales of their work. The legislation was prompted in part by a Forain drawing showing two children dressed in rags looking into an expensive auction salesroom and saying, “Look! They’re selling one of daddy’s paintings.”

The measure, later incorporated in the copyright provisions under the law of March 11, 1957, was a response to the stereotyped image of the artist living in penury while works created earlier sold for higher and higher prices. The droit de suite lasts for the term of the copyright, during which time the proceeds benefit the artist’s spouse and heirs. The droit de suite applies to original works when sold either at public auction or through a dealer, although the extension of the droit de suite to dealers by the law of March 11, 1957, appears not to have been followed or enforced. The droit de suite is collected when the price is over ten thousand francs. The rate is 3 percent upon the total sales price, not merely the profit of the seller. Artists utilize S.P.A.D.E.M. (Société de la Propriété Artistique, des Dessins et Modèles), an organization like ASCAP, to collect proceeds due under the droit de suite. S.P.A.D.E.M., by reciprocal agreements with similar organizations, also receives proceeds due its artists from sales of work in Belgium and West Germany.

The droit de suite is payable to a foreign artist if a French artist could collect a similar payment in the country of the foreign artist. Despite some commentary to suggest that U.S. artists should be able to collect the droit de suite in France, it appears that U.S. artists are not entitled to the droit de suite because the United States offers no such right to foreign artists. Foreign artists can collect the French droit de suite in any case if such artists have resided in France for five years, not necessarily consecutively, and have contributed to the French life of the arts. This survey covers only the French law, of course, and the laws of other countries with rights similar to the droit de suite can vary significantly. A right to such proceeds exists in some form in countries as diverse as Algeria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Equador, Germany, Guinea, Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uruguay.

Resale Proceeds Right

The French droit de suite has at least been discussed for the United States under the designation of a resale proceeds right. Such a right would require the payment back to the artist of a certain percentage of either proceeds or profits from subsequent sales of the artist’s work. The Visual Artists Rights Act required the Register of Copyrights, in consultation with the Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, to conduct a study on the feasibility of implementing resale royalties.



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