The morning started off with a humorous presentation by Doug
Verge and Dan Fink of
Sheehan Phinney, Bass & Green on copyright. In a half
hour they were able to convey a lot of information on copyright, trademark, and
patents all while poking fun at lawyers, copyright interlopers and artists
trying to find the cheapest possible route. They pointed out that while an
artist automatically owns the copyright to all works but if it isn’t registered
at the
US Copyright Office
it becomes much more expensive to ensure legal rights to a work. This blew a
hole through the time honored method of copyrighting by sending a letter to
oneself with the images/titles/descriptions of artworks enclosed and leaving
unopened until a suit arises. My experience in the past when ownership of an
idea arises for an artist is that being unprepared leaves the artist no avenue
except abandoning a signature style or idea. This can be financial disaster for
someone who has spent a lot of time and effort building up a reputation around
this signature idea. Some other little tidbits gleaned from this
mini-presentation are that titles cannot be copyrighted, and trademarks are
absolutely inviolable (think logos or catch phrases such as “America Runs on
Dunkins”)
Because I am a glutton for punishment and it is a question
that comes up frequently in my line of business the first seminar I attended
was on Copyright and the performing arts. The presenters were Andrea Hirst,
in-house counsel for Brookstones and Todd Sullivan of
Hayes, Soloway PC. This
was an in depth review of much of the information we received in the morning
session with a real focus on publishing. It is good to know the difference between writing and an idea and which can be copyrighted. It is also very good to be clear on what plagiarism is.
During lunch there was an opportunity to sit down and
informally chat with some presenters. I chose to sit with
Ricardo St. Hilaire,
a legal counselor specializing in cultural property and museum law. His topic
was disaster planning. Most of the attendees were museums or cultural
organizations which is a different perspective from a commercial art gallery. I
learned that there is a specific document that cultural organizations have to
draw up outlining their disaster plan. It runs several hundred pages. Mr. St.
Hilaire put a lot of emphasis on short documents that are more readable and
practical. He also talked a lot about employee safety. I felt relieved that I
have addressed many of the items he said are key in ensuring employee and art
safety. You can read his blog
here.
For the early afternoon session I attended “How to Handle
Legal Claims” with Joan Goshgarian of
NHBCA,
Connie Boyles Lane of Orr and Reno and
Bob Larsen of Sulloway & Hollis. They all stressed the importance
of finding a lawyer that you like and trust before you REALLY need one. They
talked about the process of interviewing several lawyers to find the one that
you connect with personally- sharing that most lawyers will have informational
meetings at no cost. As
UNH School of Law ramps up its entertainment law focus
I expect there will be more lawyers who are sympathetic to artists and there
particular needs.
In the afternoon I served on a panel with
Peter McGovern,
faculty at UNH School of Law and Cathy Sununu, president of
Portsmouth Museum of Art. We talked about artists and institutional relationships- basically
covering the ins and outs of contracts for artists. While the audience did not
join in the conversation, the feedback suggests they thought the panel was very
informative but were overwhelmed with all the information we presented.
To wrap up this little review of the Arts, Culture and the
Law conference I want to say how much I learned in one day. I cannot recommend
this event enough. Last year I attended seminars on dispute resolution and
estate planning for artists... and before you say you do not need to know about
this stuff. I want to remind you that sometimes you don’t know what you don’t
know. For the $50 registration fee this conference packs a wallop.
It isn't the technical aspects of Susan's work that engage me though. Her color choices are absolutely seductive. She has an ability to combine vivid colors without creating visual mayhem. That is not as easy as it sounds- especially as each cell of color can be quite small. There is a risk that it will be read as a pattern rather than light, shadow or volume. 
