{"id":1507,"date":"2014-09-10T17:08:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T00:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2014-09-11T10:57:02","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T17:57:02","slug":"artists-should-not-retain-copyright-in-publicly-commissioned-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/artists-should-not-retain-copyright-in-publicly-commissioned-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists should not retain copyright in publicly commissioned art (Updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Good<\/a>An interesting story from Portland, Oregon, on the copyright held by sculptor Raymond Kaskey in his statue Portlandia<\/em>. Willamette Week<\/a> reports on his close guarding of reproduction rights in the large, iconic statue made 30 years ago, commissioned by the city:<\/p>\n

\n

You would think the image of Portlandia<\/i> would adorn postcards, photos and T-shirts. She doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s because her maker, Washington, D.C.-based sculptor Raymond Kaskey, has, over the past three decades, often threatened to sue those who dare use photos or illustrations of Portlandia<\/i> for commercial purposes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s possible thanks to a policy adopted 30 years ago this week by the Metropolitan Arts Commission, now known as the Regional Arts & Culture Council<\/a>, when it voted to allow artists to retain the copyrights to their publicly purchased artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a forward-thinking decision,\u201d says Kaskey, who was paid $228,000 in public funds and reportedly another $100,000 in private donations to create Portlandia<\/i>. \u201cNot many cities respected artists\u2019 rights in those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RACC agrees. \u201cMany artists have had their works taken advantage of in the past,\u201d says Peggy Kendellen of the RACC. \u201cIt\u2019s important to protect the rights of the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But… this is not a very smart way to protect artists’ rights.<\/p>\n

The rights of the artist can be rewarded in an initial contract, at the time the commission is set, that allocates rights in the most efficient way. If it is anticipated that thousands of people will want to make photos or videos or paintings where the statue would appear, then the artist and the city can bargain over a commission price where the city claims the reproduction rights (and, hopefully, puts them in the public domain) and the artist is compensated at the beginning for transferring that right. That greatly reduces the transaction and other costs of anyone wishing to create an image that includes the statue having to negotiate individually with the artist. And if the artist under consideration won’t take such a deal, find another artist who will.<\/p>\n

It is not exploitation of the artist to make such an arrangement: the artist can be compensated at the outset for trading this right. It makes a lot more sense in the long run.<\/p>\n

And keep in mind that legal hassles over public art only serve to lower public support for such projects in the first place. How many Portland residents, on reading about this case, would support investing more funds in public art under the same contractual arrangements?<\/p>\n

UPDATE: I failed to say who wrote the very interesting Willamette Week<\/em> article: John Locanthi. My apologies to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting story from Portland, Oregon, on the copyright held by sculptor Raymond Kaskey in his statue Portlandia. Willamette Week reports on his close guarding of reproduction rights in the large, iconic statue made 30 years ago, commissioned by the city: You would think the image of Portlandia would adorn postcards, photos and T-shirts. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Portand-Mt-Hood.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-oj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2118,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/10\/what-arts-legislation-do-we-want-then-a-call-for-suggestions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":0},"title":"What arts legislation do we want then? A call for suggestions","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago blog neighbour Doug McLennan lamented that Congress seems to have no interest in arts-related legislation, with no bills coming to floor on which we could even guess at how elected officials actually weigh the arts as a matter of national importance. I responded that we should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"not sure about this one...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/suggestion-box.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/arts-policy-research-is-expensive-a-contrasting-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":1},"title":"Arts policy research is expensive: a contrasting view","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In an earlier post I noted the high expense of \"gated\" academic journals, and questioned why the global network of research universities has continued to use a system where academics produce research articles (sometimes at high cost), serve as peer-reviewers, and as editors, without renumeration, and then pay publishers significant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this costs real money","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Printing-For-Beginners-VI-Correcting-Proof-Proof-r-168-250x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1352,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/summer-books-astra-taylors-the-peoples-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":2},"title":"Summer books: Astra Taylor’s ‘The People’s Platform’","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Summer is time to catch up on reading all of those books I bought during the school year. Let's begin with Astra Taylor, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. I enjoyed the book, political economy applied to the contemporary digital media world. It covers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Astra Taylor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Astra-Taylor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4615,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/11\/ai-and-artists-and-rights\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":3},"title":"AI and artists and rights","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a recent piece at Lawfare, by Simon Goldstein and Peter N. Salib, \u201cCopyright should not protect artists from artificial intelligence.\u201d The article has the strawman subtitle, \u201cThe purpose of intellectual property law is to incentivize the production of new ideas, not to function as a welfare scheme for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2135,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/11\/why-its-time-to-completely-totally-finally-give-up-on-economic-impact-studies-in-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":4},"title":"Why it’s time to completely, totally, finally give up on economic impact studies in the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my last attempt at this topic, based on some recent (friendly!) twitter conversations and questions. One. Let me start with some data. Here, from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, are sector shares of GDP (i.e. the total value added from each sector) for recent years. If you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"no, I don't think it will really work","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2069,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/07\/the-size-of-the-arts-sector-is-not-a-rationale-for-public-funding-of-the-arts-sector\/","url_meta":{"origin":1507,"position":5},"title":"The size of the arts sector is not a rationale for public funding of the arts sector","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In yesterday's post, I wrote (as an aside): I see a lot of advocacy that follows the '1.\u00a0the cultural sector is bigger than you thought it was, 2.\u00a0???, 3.\u00a0deserves more public funding'\u00a0model. Conveniently, this morning we get this story\u00a0from The Scotsman on the Edinburgh Festival: Flagship events like the Edinburgh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"???","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/gnome-300x168.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1514,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}