Destruction of Copyrighted Work?

Destruction of Copyrighted Works

In general, anyone who buys a copyrighted work has the legal right to destroy it. If you purchase a copyrighted book, you are free to discard it or give it to someone else. The Visual Artists Rights Act, on the other hand, is a federal law that provides some additional protections for certain works of art. It has a very limited scope.
 

To be covered by the Act, the work must be a painting, drawing, print, photograph, or sculpture with a single copy or a limited edition of 200 or fewer copies. Limited edition works must be signed and sequentially numbered. Even if an artwork is reproduced in a publication, the original is still protected by VARA rights.

Many copyrighted works are created by employees for their employers or are commissioned by a specific person. These are classified as works created for hire, which means that the creator does not own the copyright to the work. Instead, the employer or person who commissioned the work owns the copyright. VARA does not apply to works created for hire, regardless of who created them or who commissioned them.

The Right to Be Safe from Destruction

VARA-protected works of art may not be destroyed, mutilated, distorted, or modified in a way that jeopardises the artist's reputation. Even if a person purchases this type of work for their collection, they do not have the right to destroy or modify it without the artist's permission. VARA gives artists the right to sue if their work is destroyed. To receive compensation, they would have to demonstrate that the destruction of the work harmed their reputation.

VARA protections are only valid for the artist's lifetime. This is because they are intended to safeguard the artist's reputation. Because this concern is greatly diminished after they die, the work's owner is free to destroy it at that point without seeking permission from the artist's family or estate. In contrast, the rights granted by the Copyright Act are valid for 70 years after the death of the copyright owner.