Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) joined Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) to introduce the American Royalties Too (ART) Act. The legislation will protect the intellectual property rights of visual artists by awarding them a royalty for work resold at auction. Currently, these artists are not awarded any compensation when their work is resold.

Visual art often gains value over time and as an artist gains celebrity. Yet, these artists do not benefit from the reselling of their first pieces under current law. This greatly differs from current protections that exist for other artists such as songwriters and musicians. Furthermore, the United States lags behind 70 other countries that protect the rights of visual artists during resale. To mitigate this issue, the ART act will provide a five percent royalty or $35,000, whichever is less, to artists whose work is sold for more than $5,000 at public auction.

 A copy of the American Royalties Too is available here.