Choose and respond to ONE (1) of the following questions:

1) Looking at the issues of authorship in visual art, how do you think the issue plays
out in
the other disciplines?
For music?
For dance?
For performance?

2) Considering the not-so-contemporary condition of commissioning art work

(paying an artist to do an art at one’s direction), how do you think the issue of
authorship plays out? Who is the author of the commissioned work: the artist or the
one who commissioned it?

Copyright law grants authors , composers, computer programmers , website

designers and other creators legal protection for their literary, artistic, dramatic and other
types of creations, which are usually referred to as "works." Copyright law also provides
"moral rights." which protect, among other things, an author's reputation and the integrity
o f the work.

Under current copyright law, the artist generally owns the copyright in work
commissioned by a third party, unless they have signed an agreement to the contrary.
Copyright, or authorship, by default, goes to the original creator of a particular work.
Artist retains all rights as the sole author of the work for the duration of the copyright
which in the Philippines, is the current life of the author, plus 50 years.

It is important to know that copyright nearly always rests with the artist, regardless
of who owns the artwork. There are exceptions to this rule, such as work that has been
specifically commissioned or completed during employment, in which case copyright
stays with the commissioner or employer. Freelance artists working for a range of
companies should keep this in mind.

Title to the artwork passes to the client or commissioning agency/organization

upon their written acceptance of and payment for the work, but copyright belongs to and
remains with the artist. In other words, although the client may “own” the work of art, the
artist who created the work owns the copyright, including all ways in which that artwork
is represented (photos, video, ads, logos, branding), other than in situ (on-site
documentation photos).

A copyright, ultimately, is like any other piece of property and it can be bought,
sold, rented, leased, etc. just like any other thing you own. However, there is what we
called a copyright transfer which allows the buyer to do almost whatever they want with
the artwork. Copyright transfer requires a written agreement and artists are generally
reluctant to provide this transfer. The general rule of thumb is, if you don’t have a written
agreement and it was not done by a true employee, the copyright remains with the artist
and they have the rights to display, copy, license and even sell other copies of the work
they create.

In short, without a written agreement, the buyer obtains the physical work but not
the copyrights that back it. If a photograph, portrait or engraving is commissioned for a
fee, then the person commissioning the work will own copyright unless an agreement is
made. While that seems straightforward, it can still cause a great deal of trouble for artists
and buyers alike.

If a work was created by,say, an external consultant or creative service, that is, in
the course of a commission contract, the situation is different. In most countries, like the
Philippines, the creator owns the copyright in the commissioned work, and the person
who ordered the work will only have a license to use the work for the purposes for which
it was commissioned. Many composers, photographers, freelance journalists, graphic
designers, computer programmers and website designers work on this basis. The issue of
ownership most often arises in connection with reuse of commissioned material for the
same or a different purpose. For instance, you outsource the creation of an advertisement
for your company. At the time, you intend to use it to promote your new product at a
trade show. The advertising agency will own the copyright, unless it was expressly agreed
otherwise in the contract. Some time later, you want to use parts of the advertisement (a
graphic design, a photo or a logo) on your new website.You must seek the permission
from the advertising agency to use the copyright material in this new way.This is because
\ the use of the material on your website was not necessarily envisaged at the time of the
original contract. Nevertheless, there are some exceptional cases, such as photographs
taken for private purposes, portraits and engravings, sound recordings, cinematographic
films, where, in some countries, the party, which commissions the work, owns the
copyright in it, unless agreed otherwise. As is the case in the employer-employee context,
it is important that you address copyright ownership issues in a written agreement , which
should be entered into before commissioning external creative services.