International conference on Artist’s Resale Right, WIPO
On April 28, a major international conference on resale rights was held at WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, in Geneva, at the heart of current copyright issues.
Visual artists like painters, sculptors and photographers benefit from a resale right, an intellectual property right providing a legal foundation for these artists to benefit from proceeds of sales of their works. While some 80 countries have laws in place, many countries have not. With the increased globalization of the art market, visual artists the world over are losing out on precious income.
The WIPO conference has thus mobilized various players in the art market, from around the world: artists, heirs, societies of authors, art dealers, economists, journalists, lawyers and experts expressed their expectations around a number of issues:
- The internationalization of the art market
- The role of resale right to increase artists’ incomes
- How artists can track the success of their work
- Transparency of the art market
- Current policies and practices to protect visual artists.
Organized in the presence of HE Mbagnick Ndiaye, Minister of Culture and Communication of Senegal, the colloquium did not fail to address the issue of African artists, who live a particularly painful reality. Romuald Hazoumé, a Beninese artist, made him the spokesman by calling on all African countries to adopt the resale right.
The ADAGP was of course present at this conference and heard the voices of its artists (Hervé di Rosa, Romuald Hazoumé, Wang Yan Cheng, Julio Carrasco Breton, Christian Jaccard, etc.) and his heirs (Meret Meyer, Jany Jansem).
Marie-Anne Ferry-Fall, General Director of the ADAGP, also intervened: "This right, created in France nearly 100 years ago, is a matter of equity between the various players in the value chain created in the World of art so that those who are at the origin of this value can benefit and live. "
Although the universal adoption of the resale right is not yet on the agenda, this WIPO conference gives its advocates great visibility and hope for all artists who unfortunately do not enjoy the resale right.
Follow the WIPO Conference on twitter
See the slideshow of the WIPO Conference
Read the AFP News
Read the CISAC report