IPOPHL urges visual artists to enforce resale right
August 13, 2024
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has urged visual artists to actively enforce their resale rights and offered some best practices they could adopt to capture the full benefits of this economic right.
Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights (BCRR) Director Emerson G. Cuyo voiced this in his hybrid talk to over 50 visual artists attending online and at the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo on August 3, 2024. The talk was an initiative of Pinto Art Museum Founder Dr. Joven R. Cuanang and sculptor Ramon Orlina, the recipient of IPOPHL’s 2024 Gawad Yamang Isip Awards for the visual arts.
“This opportunity given by the Pinto Art Museum and Mr. Orlina allows IPOPHL to reach out to more visual artists and keep them informed to capitalize on their resale rights, ensuring they benefit from the increasing value of their works as they change hands over time,” Cuyo added.
Cuyo said visual artists often miss out on the financial rewards that other copyright holders enjoy. Unlike novelists or musicians, for example, visual artists do not profit or gain significant income from mass reproduction and widespread distribution or communication to the public of their works.
“Resale rights were established to level the playing field by granting artists a small percentage of the sale price each time their work is resold,” Cuyo added.
The artist’s resale right is embedded in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works which sets a baseline for international copyright standards. While an optional right, the resale right is recognized by around 80 countries, including the Philippines. Section 200 of the IP Code of 1997 explicitly stated that artists enjoy a share in the gross proceeds of every sale or lease of an original work of painting or sculpture or of the original manuscript of a writer or composer in every disposition following the first.
As the art world grows more interconnected in the digital era, advocates like Orlina argue the need to be informed about resale rights. The push joins the growing clamor worldwide to make resale rights a universal and mandatory right as it remains unrecognized in certain countries. Amid increased global interest, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has adopted resale rights in the agenda for the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights since 2015.
“It’s time for artists to be empowered and for others to recognize resale rights, ensuring artists receive their fair share as their works’ values leap in bounds over the years,” Orlina said.
The GYI awardee is currently spearheading efforts alongside other artists and heirs of artists from the Philippines to form a collective management organization (CMO). The CMO that will serve as a one-stop-shop for visual artists to collect their resale rights, as well as receive support in enforcing this right.
“Once this CMO gains accreditation from IPOPHL, every visual artist is encouraged to be a member,” Orlina added. # # # (Janina Lim, Information Officer III)