Legal Services: Art Law and Intellectual Property Law Explained

Art law is a specialist area of the law designed to create legal solutions and provide legal advice for anyone involved in the art world.

Alongside the artists themselves, this can also include collectors, museums, galleries and artistic centres. It can encompass many things, including valuation, copyright law, commercialisation, estate law, tax law, litigation and art-related disputes.

For artists to protect their intellectual property and their rights over their own work, they may need legal advice or representation. The protection of these rights can have a significant impact on the legacy of the artist and on their lifetime earnings.

Dr Edgar Paltzer is a lawyer with several areas of specialisation including art law advice for collectors and dealers, estate planning, wealth structuring, and the structuring of foundations and trusts, all of which may be included under the umbrella of art law.

What Does an Art Lawyer Do?

Art lawyers may specialise in several unique areas of the law pertaining to the valuation, sale and rights of any piece of artwork. Attorneys specialising in art can help artists and purchasers of fine art to understand their rights and ensure a fair valuation and sale process.

This may include drawing up legal documents such as bills of sale; purchase and sales agreements; conservation, restoration and repair agreements; escrow agreements; licensing agreements; auction guarantees; loan agreements between artists and galleries and museums; commission contracts of public and private art; deeds of gifts; and art advisor and consulting agreements.

Art lawyers can also provide expert legal counsel for any matter relating to the sale, creation, consignment, display, financing, reproduction, insurance, recovery, restitution, taxation, destruction, purchase, auction, movement, maintenance, storage, ownership, import, export, authentication, valuation and gifting of any piece of art.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property is a blanket term for any intangible asset that has value. These are non-physical assets which are legally owned or protected by an individual or an organisation. Intellectual property can have a high value and therefore ownership needs to be protected.

Intellectual property is often covered within art law to protect the rights of many types of artists, including performers, singers, dancers, musicians, visual artists, songwriters, film makers and more. Protecting intellectual property is essential for many artists to retain ownership or rights over reproductions of their work.