Copyright in unconventional art work
Solving copyright related issues is oftentimes challenging already when dealing with the so-called traditional works, such as paintings, written works or musical works. Hence, determining copyright can be even harder in the case of unconventional works, where the work is placed on somebody else’s buidling (e.g. grafitti) or even somebody else’s skin, as is the case with tattoos.
Who owns the copyright on a tattoo that was put into a client’s skin by the tattoo artist? What if the tattoo artist copied the tattoo off of a preexisting work? Is it possible, in the cases of copyright infringement, to demand and achieve the removal of someone else’s tattoo? Timotej Kotnik Jesih addressed these and other questions in his article titled “Unconventional artwork and copyright – is my tattoo really mine?”, published in Pravna praksa magazine on 18 June 2020 (pp. 24-26).
You can read the whole article (in Slovene) here.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that maintains the Open Library, a digital library index, and is dedicated to preserving knowledge. As many of the works in the Internet Archive are under copyright, the Archive uses a system of controlled digital lending based on digital rights management to prevent unauthorized downloading or copying of copyrighted books. In March 2020, due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet Archive established the National Emergency Library, eliminating the waiting lists used in the Open Library and expanding access to books for all readers. In June 2020, the Emergency National Library faced a lawsuit from four book publishers and was ultimately closed.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.