A DALRO/VANSA Seminar on Copyright Protection and Collection in the Visual Arts 

· Ever wondered how copyright and intellectual property law applies to your creative work or your business?

· Has anyone ever used, copied or reproduced your work without your permission or without paying you?

· Ever wondered what to do if your rights are infringed?

Date and Time: 10:10am – 12:00pm, 19th of July 2010

Venue: 4^th Floor SAMRO Place, 20 De Korte Street, Braamfontein (see map below)

RSVP essential – participation limited to 20 people: please email communications@vansa.co.zaor phone Audrey or Kebone at 011 833 7908 during office hours

The Seminar will involve:

· an overview of Copyright and Intellectual Property Law as it applies to the visual arts

· an overview of current arrangements for the collection of payments associated with the reproduction of visual artworks

· Industry perspectives on the question of copyright collection and copyright issues more generally in the visual arts

· A general Q and A session to provide attendees with an opportunity to address their questions or issues related to intellectual property/copyright law

The Seminar is aimed at visual artists, artist associations, publishers and gallerists – in fact anyone who has an interest in the protection of visual artists’ rights over their creative work. The seminar aims to identify where there may be particular needs and opportunities related to copyright issues in the visual arts, and establish a modest agenda for action on these.

Speakers:

Owen Dean (Spoor & Fisher), leading local and international specialist on intellectual property law

Gérard Robinson , CEO of the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO)

Bronwyn Law-Viljoen , freelance writer and arts consultant, Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg 

Joseph Gaylard , Gauteng Director, Visual Arts Network of South Africa

Background

The Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) and the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO) have come together to convene an industry workshop on copyright issues in the visual arts with leading experts in the field. While DALRO has agreements in place with a range of copyright collection societies and agencies for the visual arts based in other countries (mainly Europe and North America), which deal with copyright collection related to the reproduction of the work of artists from those countries, they currently have almost no South African artists on their books (other than the estate of Irma Stern). As a result these agreements are very one-sided - i.e. South Africans paying to reproduce work of artists from other countries, and little movement in the other direction. Within South Africa, payment for reproduction rights are usually made on an informal and ad-hoc basis, and artists are often not paid royalties on the reproduction of their work.

The seminar aims to provide an overview of intellectual property law as it pertains to the visual arts, how copyright collection works and to identify problems and issues related to intellectual property and copyright law in the visual arts industry in South Africa more generally - with a view to considering what kinds of interventions might be required to address these issues. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to ask any questions or raise points of concern related to their own experience in this area.

The seminar forms part of a larger project – ARTRIGHT – that VANSA is currently developing in partnership with Brendan Copestake and the WITS School of Arts.  ARTRIGHT will be an on-line platform where visual artists and entrepreneurs can access legal, financial and professional advice and tools. A programme of industry seminars and workshops related to this resource is planned during the course of the next three years. The development phase of the project is supported by the WITS Foundation and the Gauteng Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture.

About the Speakers

Dr Owen Dean is a Cape Town based attorney associated with the law firm Spoor & Fisher.  He has over 36 years of experience in the field of Intellectual Property law, and is a leading authority in this area both locally and internationally. He consults to and acts for various local and international listed companies, and successfully represented the estate of Solomon Linda versus Walt Disney over the rights in Mbube (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) used in the Lion King. More recently he was involved in a case brought against BMW by artist Gerard Marx. Dr Dean is also the author of the Handbook of South African Copyright Law .

Bronwyn Law-Viljoen is a former Fulbright scholar who completed her doctorate in literature at New York University. Bronwyn is a freelance writer and editor, an arts consultant, and a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. In her capacity as Managing Editor of David Krut Publishing (DKP) she edited a wide range of key publications on leading South African artists. She has contributed essays on South African art and photography to a number of South African and international publications, including Art on Paper, Art South Africa, Aperture magazine, Printmaking Today and Scrutiny.

Gerard Robinson is a copyright administrator and CEO of the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), a multi-purpose copyright society administering various aspects of copyright on behalf of authors and publishers. DALRO’s main areas of administration are reprographic reproduction rights (photocopying from published editions), public performance rights (including stage rights for book musicals and dramas) and reproduction rights (whether for publishing or copying) in visual works of art.