Intellectual Property Rights and the Arts: The Impact of New Technologies

Texts to be published in the print journal Leonardo, the Leonardo Electronic Almanac and on the Leonardo World Wide Web Site.

New digital/electronic technologies are influencing the creation, presentation and dissemination of visual, audio and multimedia art, as well as print publications.

These changes may drastically affect the viability of traditional systems of intellectual property rights, creating predicaments for both the ownership of art and methods of securing remuneration for artists and authors.

The editors of Leonardo are issuing a call for submissions addressing legal, institutional, technical, sociological and artistic issues relating to property and compensation as implicated by the use of electronic technologies in the arts.

The editors are interested in original submissions from the legal, creative and technical communities.

Relevant subjects include

new mechanisms to provide "fair" compensation to the creators of new artworks in new media
legal issues arising from copyright infringement, in electronic media, of existing work in traditional media
legal issues arising for art created in and distributed via new media (e.g. CD-ROM, World Wide Web)
problems arising for presenters of work (e.g. museums, libraries, publishers) and solutions to these problems
issues arising from the international context (e.g. GATT, multilingual issues, the Internet)
the impact of access (and lack of access) to computers and other technological means
potential impacts on the scholarship and humanities of the future
the question of distributed authorship, real-time networked "multiauthor" interactive production and the general concept of authorship in electronic media.

Interested authors should submit abstracts (under 300 words) of proposed submissions by electronic mail (only) to

leo@mitpress.mit.edu

Selected authors will be invited to submit full manuscripts for publication consideration. Submissions will be subject to peer review as a condition of acceptance for publication.

Accepted texts may be published in full or in summary abstract form in one or more of the following: Leonardo, Leonardo Electronic Almanac and the Leonardo WWW Site.

Abstracts of articles on these subjects that have already been published elsewhere may also be submitted for publication on the Leonardo WWW Site.

Related articles previously published in Leonardo include

Karnow, Curtis E.A. "Data Morphing: Ownership, Copyright and Creation," 27, No. 2 (1994).

Karlen, Peter H. "Art in the Law," 14, No. 1 (1981).

Anonymous. "Declaration of Artists' Rights of the Artists' Equity Association (A.E.A.),
U.S.A." 11, No. 2 (1978).

Favermann, Mark L. "Artists' Rights in the U.S.A.: Current Action," 11, No. 2 (1978).

Siegelaub, Seth. "The Artist's Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement," 6, No. 4 (1973).

UNESCO. "Salient Points of the General Report of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies of Special Interest to Artists," 5, No. 1 (1972).

Price, Monroe E. "Government Policy and Economic Security for Artists: The Case of the "Droit de Suite," 3, No. 2 (1970).

Please email comments to isast@leonardo.info