Advising on VARA and Moral Rights: A Practitioner's Guide to Waivers, Removal, and Site-Specific Work
By Casey Scott McKay ·
A practitioner's guide to the narrowest statute in Title 17 and the very large judgments it occasionally produces. It opens with a five-question coverage screen that resolves most inquiries in twenty minutes, because the definition of a work of visual art excludes almost everything clients ask about. It then splits into three tracks - commissioning, where the work is to draft the written instrument and the waiver that cost nothing at installation and everything later; ownership, where the work is the engineering removability assessment and the ninety-day notice procedure that resolves exposure for the price of a registered letter; and artist representation, where the work is the registry address, the attribution clause, and the right of first refusal. A litigation track covers recognized stature evidence, the willfulness facts that drove the largest award on record, and the negotiated relocation most of these should reach.
IP and Technology > Copyright | Guide | Published 29 October 2025 - Updated 11 January 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. A practitioner's guide to the narrowest statute in Title 17 and the very large judgments it occasionally produces. It opens with a five-question coverage screen that resolves most inquiries in twenty minutes, because the definition of a work of visual art excludes almost everything clients ask about. It then splits into three tracks — commissioning, where the work is to draft the written instrument and the waiver that cost nothing at installation and everything later; ownership, where the work is the engineering removability assessment and the ninety-day notice procedure that resolves exposure for the price of a registered letter; and artist representation, where the work is the registry address, the attribution clause, and the right of first refusal. A litigation track covers recognized stature evidence, the willfulness facts that drove the largest award on record, and the negotiated relocation most of these should reach.
Keywords: vara coverage screen · work of visual art analysis · work made for hire exclusion · recognized stature evidence · section 113(d)(1) written instrument · ninety-day notice procedure · visual arts registry address · waiver drafting work and uses · joint work waiver trap · site-specific removal · mural agreement · engineering removability assessment · statutory damages exposure · willfulness avoidance · attribution clause drafting · commissioning agreement terms · deaccession protocol · conservation and restoration · insurance tender · negotiated relocation
This is premium Marksy content — the full document is available to subscribers.