The creation of an Artists’ Resale Right has been adopted in many countries to at best mixed reviews. They’re unsurprisingly widely supported by potential beneficiaries, but the data on who actually benefits raises real questions about the wisdom of the policy. Canada may be headed in the same policy direction as the government recently announced in its budget plans to introduce the measure. Professor Guy Rub is the Vincent J. Marella Professor of Law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and an expert in the intersection between intellectual property law, commercial law, the arts, and economic theory. Professor Rub has written critically about the Artists’ Resale Right including as part of a submission to a House of Commons committee that studied the issue several years ago. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss the policy measure and its drawbacks, including his view that it primarily benefits artists who are wealthy, old, or dead.
The podcast can be downloaded here, accessed on YouTube, and is embedded below. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on X/Twitter at @Lawbytespod.
Credits:
ABC News (Australia), Dealers Critical of Art Royalties, January 19, 2012
Sure it’s essentially a regressive policy that benefits the wealthiest visual artists most. However, it also acts as a 5% tax increase on the extremely wealthy that trade in such art in order to take advantage of freeport tax loopholes. Here the tax doesn’t go to a central government account for more nuanced use, but instead bypasses that to go to artists directly. It’d be great to tax and redistribute as part of a broader arts program to help artists that could use it more, but this doesn’t come with the easy to identify word “tax” which is easy to get the public to oppose and crush (see carbon tax).
Thanks for sharing this podcast episode. I found the discussion about how the Artists’ Resale Right might mainly help wealthy, old, or dead artists really thought-provoking. It makes me question if this policy is the best approach for Canada.
A very insightful episode. Guy Rub’s arguments that the ARR might miss its mark and merely complicate the art market deserve serious attention. I often read about finding the balance between efficiency and fairness in various aspects of life, and this discussion is a prime example of how good legislative intentions can clash with harsh economic realities. Thank you, Michael, for providing such a critical look at intellectual property in Canada.