Arts Law lobbied hard for the introduction of resale royalty rights in Australia and was delighted with the enactment of the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009 which created the right of visual artists to a percentage of the sales proceeds in certain commercial resales of their artwork. Arts Law now advocates for better education and entrenchment of these rights among both artists and art dealers and sellers. It remains concerned that vulnerable artists may be pressured to waive these rights and campaigns towards better and more widespread understanding of these rights. Arts Law is particularly concerned to protect the resale rights of Indigenous artist and artists who are from minority or disadvantaged backgrounds.
View Arts Law's Resale royalty rights for visual artists Information Sheet here
Viscopy’s Legal Advisor, Virginia Morrison, discusses Australian developments for the introduction of a resale royalty for visual artists.
Resale Royalty payments pass $400,000 – Arts Law congratulates the Copyright Agency!! Copyright Agency Limited has announced that the resale royalty scheme, which was launched last year has been a great success. The number of eligible resales had exceeded 3,600 at the end of March 2012, and over $400,000 in royalties has been paid to artists. The Arts Law Centre of Australia encourages all artists to register with the Copyright Agency, so that they might be contacted when any of their works are eligible for a resale royalty.
Arts Law made a submission to the inquiry of the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee into Australia’s Indigenous Visual Arts and Crafts Sector.