TECHNASAURUSLEX

Copyright
First Circuit
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc. v. Büchel
2008-2199
USDC Massachusetts

Here, an artist only partly had completed a commissioned three-dimensional work, “Training Ground for Democracy,” which was to comprise a mock village enabling museum visitors to role-play social and political behaviors; consequently, the museum sought court order to display the unfinished artwork in public and it prevailed, and therefore questions pertaining to the Visual Artists Rights Act, 17 U.S.C. § 106A, were reviewed, specifically: (1) do an artist’s moral rights extend to incomplete creations, (2) does a right of integrity attach to such creations to bar distortions, mutilations or modifications prejudicial to the artist’s reputation or honor and, moreover, must prejudice be shown for both injunctive relief and damages purposes, and (3) does an artist hold the exclusive right to prepare works derivative of the creative elements actually finished where the artwork had been commissioned but not completed?

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