Chapman Kelley: My Work Is Original

Seems like a district court judge in Illinois is not up on his critical theory readings, particularly those of Walter Benjamin. Ruling that Kelley’s work lacked originality, the district court judge held that the Visual Artists Rights Act did not protect Kelley’s work because it lacked “originality,” a critical precursor to establishing a copyright violation (VARA is part of U.S. copyright law). This is quite odd given the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the standard for creativity is extremely low: it need not be novel, but rather possess only a “spark” or “minimal degree” of creativity to be protected by copyright. We’ll keep an eye on this one.

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