Revisiting the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990: A Follow-up Survey about Awareness and Waiver

Abstract:     
This article presents previously unreleased empirical data about the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) from an exhaustive survey that the author conducted in 2003. The article first examines the background of VARA by surveying case law and news accounts. The article then reports and analyzes the results of the 2003 survey. The article argues that the results from the 2003 survey reveal that little has changed since the Copyright Office's 1995 survey. VARA still seems to be obscure. The article then offers recommendations to copyright law practitioners and Congress regarding VARA.

Keywords: Visual Artists Rights Act, VARA, Artist, Visual Artist, Visual Art, Artist Rights, Copyright, Copyright Office Report

JEL Classifications: K30, K11

Accepted Paper Series