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Emergency resourcesOn behalf of the arts community, CLA has been tracking the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation daily, and building this list of resources for artists and arts organizations. We will continue to update this site as more resources become available. If you know of a relief fund, resource or emergency fund not listed, please send it to us at support@calawyersforthearts.org. NATIONAL & COMMUNITY ADVOCACY & INFORMATION
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR INDIVIDUALS ARTS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR MUSICIANS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR VISUAL ARTS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR PERFORMANCE ARTS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR LITERARY ARTS
EMERGENCY RESOURCES FOR FILM, TELEVISION &RADIO
HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
HOUSING INFORMATION RESOURCES
OTHER ADVOCACY, LEGAL & FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Resources compiled from a variety of sources including Arts for LA, Actor’s Fund, Covid19freelanceartistsresource, National Endowment for the Arts, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (New York) |
NEWS
CA Resale Royalties Act Preempted by Copyright Act
On July 6, 2018, a panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that California’s Resale Royalties Act only applies to art sales conducted prior to 1978.
See this article about the decision from The New York Times: California Tried to Give Artists a Cut. But the Judges Said No
See below a synopsis of the opinion. BYBEE, Circuit Judge:
The California Resale Royalties Act ("CRRA") grants artists an unwaivable right to 5% of the proceeds on any resale of their artwork under specified circumstances. To that end, the CRRA requires the seller of the artwork or the seller's agent to withhold 5% of the resale price and pay it to the artist or, if the artist cannot be found, to the California Arts Council. If the seller or the seller's agent fails to pay the 5% resale royalty, the artist may bring an action for damages.
Plaintiffs are artists and their successors in interest seeking resale royalties under the CRRA from the statute's effective date of January 1, 1977, to the present. The issue in this case is whether plaintiffs' claims are preempted by federal copyright law. The district court held that they are, as a matter of both express and conflict preemption.
We affirm in part and reverse in part. Plaintiffs' CRRA claims covered by the 1976 Copyright Act—i.e., those concerning sales postdating the 1976 Act's effective date of January 1, 1978—are expressly preempted by 17 U.S.C. § 301(a). We therefore affirm dismissal of those claims.
The 1909 Copyright Act, however, has no express preemption provision. As such, plaintiffs' CRRA claims covered only by the 1909 Act—i.e., those concerning sales that occurred between the CRRA's effective date of January 1, 1977, and the 1976 Act's effective date of January 1, 1978—cannot be expressly preempted. Nor are they preempted by conflict preemption. See Morseburg v. Balyon, 621 F.2d 972, 977-78 (9th Cir. 1980). Accordingly, we reverse dismissal of those claims and remand them to the district court for further proceedings.
National Resale Royalties for Visual Artists?
In a law review article published in the Cybaris Intellectual Property Law Review, CLA Executive Director Alma Robinson makes the case for federal legislation, which would allow US artists to receive resale royalties in more than 70 countries around the world.
