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= Art and Culture Law = Art and culture law is a body of law that regulates and is applied to artists, artwork and cultural property. It examines the interaction between the creative arts, and contemporary legal and social issues. This legal practice is presented by the relationship between copyright and creativity, the concept of creative works as property, and the conflict between artists and consumers. Law as culture depends on a series of unacknowledged aesthetic, psychological, historical, and cultural assumptions. Types of art include: literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works or compilations. Current copyright law that protects artists/creators was established by the Copyright Act of Canada.

Legal Protection in Canada
See also: Copyright Act of Canada

Legal Rights
Copyright law has asserted itself into the creativity of an artist. The essence of the law is not all logic, it is about experience, going hand in hand with how artists create. Creation includes three main stages: idea, patterning and expression. Copyright starts at stage two; you cannot copyright an idea. The law is called upon to judge if an artists’ work has originality in order to give it copyrights. If granted copyrights, the artist owns the sole rights to the work for the duration of their life plus fifty years in Canada. In the United States, copyright lasts for the duration of their life plus seventy years. The copyright owner is not necessarily the artist/creator, and the rights can be sold.

Neighbouring rights, also known as rights neighbouring to copyright, give ownership to covers of works of art who are not technically the author. These rights are associated most with preforming arts. Copyrights and neighbouring rights are similar to Intellectual Property (IP) titles, but IP titles do not grant moral rights like copyright.

Moral rights are also found within the Copyright Act to protect artists/creators. These rights protect the reputation of creators against any distortion, mutilation or other modification to their work. These rights are found within the Copyright Act and last for the duration of copyright. Moral rights are rights solely associated to the owner of the work and cannot be sold. Infringement of  copyrights and moral rights allows the owner of the copyright to sue for any damages.

Canada is one of few countries that incorporated exhibition rights into the Copyright Act. Exhibition rights allows visual artists to obtain money (or royalties) when there work is displayed in an exhibition for the public, for example a museum. Artists/creators are not rewarded exhibition rights when the work is exhibited for sale.

Reproduction rights, too, apply when an artist produces a work of art. Reproduction rights allow the work to be reproduced if authorized by the artists. These rights are often sold to reproduction companies to make and distribute an artist’s work.

Fair Dealing, through the Copyright Act of Canada, gives rights to third party consumers to use an artist’s work without permission, as long as certain conditions are met. Consumers use fair dealing for activities such as research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and news reporting.

Cultural Property Export and Import Act
The Cultural Property Export and Import Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-51) is an act that regulates the export and import of cultural property in Canada. It states that Canada cannot export or import illegally exported property from foreign states. Cultural property includes, but is not limited to, fine art, decorative art, ethnographic and archaeological material, books, documents, photographs, motion pictures, scientific/technical material, and military objects. This legislation is in the best interest of Canadian citizens.

Berne Convention
The Berne Convention, adopted in 1886, is the oldest and most important treaty that is associated with protecting works and the rights of their authors/creators. It provides creators such as authors, musicians, poets, painters etc. with the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms. 180 countries have signed this treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), setting a minimum set of standards around the world for the protection of the rights of all authors/creators.

WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) is a separate clause under the Berne Convention that was signed on in 1996. It impacts the protection of digits rights authors/creators have in this digital age. In addition to the rights confined in the Berne Convention, this treaty grants them more certain economic rights. The Treaty deals with two subject matters that are to be protected by copyright: computer programs and databases. This is lawful in helping regulate art and culture law in the digital age.

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement that came into affect in 1995. This agreement regulates the scope of intellectual property rights and affects every member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Legal Cases

 * Republic of Austria v. Altmann
 * Théberge v. Galerie d’Art du Petit Champlain Inc.

Modern Views
Art and culture law is an advocate from modernism; Post-modernism questions authority and the questioning of cultural practice. Creativity and authorship brings up problems as many post-modern theorists believe nothing can be made from nothing. Others believe that the work of authorship should be protected and valued in order to continue innovation and influence creativity. This is a common discussion taking place within legalese debates discussing whether copyright laws within art and culture do more harm than good.

Modern thinking revolved around art and culture law also discusses the new artistic culture that came with the digital age. The law has yet to regulate current technological innovations that have advanced to find loop holes within copyright, mostly in regard to reproduction rights and fair dealing. This is harmful to copyright owners as they are not fully protected within their legal rights.