What Protects the Intellectual Property Created by Artists?
The Technical Expert Solution for IP Teams
When a person creates a work of art, they have an emotional attachment to it. It has been inspired by something, most likely their life experiences or from another source. By creating this piece of art, they are capturing something unique and meaningful for them. They should be able to share it with the world without always having to worry about whether someone is going to steal it and profit off of their hard work. That is why artists need to protect the intellectual property that they create, so others cannot benefit from it without permission or monetary compensation.
An artist’s success is based on the uniqueness of their work. Pieces of art hold value because they have a distinct style but also because they are one-of-a-kind. But if others can easily replicate the work, then it becomes less valuable.
Intellectual property protection also stops businesses from using the work without permission. If an artist’s work is used for any reason, they should be financially compensated, and intellectual property protection ensures that is the case.
Artists can protect their intellectual property by filing the proper documents with the government. By registering your art, you are creating a public record that legitimizes your claim that this is your original work. You will be able to share it without worry because you know you are protected legally.
Copyright is the most effective way to protect your intellectual property as an artist. It protects the creativity in your work, including the choice of materials and processes. In effect, copyrighting the work protects the piece of art as a whole and makes it illegal for anybody to copy it and profit from it without your explicit permission. However, the law is quite specific about what can be copyrighted and what cannot. Work has to meet a certain creative level and smaller aspects of a piece cannot be copyrighted. For example, a novel can be copyrighted but specific phrases are unlikely to qualify for legal protection. The same goes for paintings; specific images within the painting may not meet the standards to be eligible for copyright.
Some people get mixed up between copyright and trademarks but it’s important for artists to know the difference between the two. A trademark is a word, phrase, or logo that distinguishes the source of a good. It tells you who made it and where to find more work from this person. Artists often have trademarks for their name, which they sometimes use on their art, too. This doesn’t protect them in the same way as copyright protection but can be another legal layer that keeps others from trying to pass your work off as their own. In short, trademarks will not protect a specific piece of art, but they can be used to protect the business entity through which you sell your work.
If your art is stolen, you will need to prove it belongs to you. That’s why protecting it by copyrighting it is so important. An artist can also take legal action against the person who is stealing their work. It will be up to the person using the work to prove that they have permission, and if they can’t produce evidence, they will be forced to stop using the piece of work and potentially pay a settlement.
However, some cases can be more complex. If another artist is imitating your style and stealing elements of your work to use in their own, it can be harder to prove. A judge has the power to stop this kind of infringement if it can be proved that the other artist is breaking copyright laws. But in this case, it’s down to you to provide enough evidence and make a case that the work is close enough to your own to be considered an infringement of copyright.
There are often a lot of gray areas in intellectual property cases, especially where art is concerned. The work may not legally qualify for copyright because it’s not original enough, or an artist can claim that they developed the idea on their own and any resemblance to another artist’s work is simply a coincidence. Proving one way or the other in this situation can be difficult. If you are concerned about intellectual property theft as an artist and you want to know how to protect your ideas, seeking the advice of a specialist is a good idea.