Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as part of the MA program in Art Law and Arts Management at the International Hellenic University. Art Appropriation is an artistic genre where artists use works of other artists without their permission and create a new artwork. As it is understood, this causes a rise of a series of copyright implications while artists of this movement are keen on challenging legal notions such as “originality” and “authorship”. The dialogue between Copyright and appropriationists is vivid and ongoing. This dissertation attempts to make a spherical approach touching different aspects of the subject. We will start with a historical overview of Art Appropriation and identify certain milestones of its over a 100-year timespan. We shall continue with different copyright issues related to Art Appropriation such as the interpretation of works of art by Copyright, the criterion of “originality” and the definition of derivative works. Finally, we will examine the legal bases of works of that kind. We will elaborate on different jurisdictions and scrutinize relevant case law. Emphasis will be given to the fair use doctrine, an exception provided by the US Copyright Statute that permits the unauthorised use of a work under certain circumstances. By completing this dissertation it is my intention to provide the reader with a holistic understanding of this rebel with(out) a cause artistic phenomenon.