Protest Art Fate Tied to Obscure, Rarely Litigated Copyright Law

Anti-racist messages, murals of Black people killed by police officers, and other pieces of protest art created on buildings and streets from New York to Ferguson, Mo., since George Floyd’s death have attracted worldwide attention.

But how long those works stay visible may depend on interpretations of a rarely tested part of copyright law that might be headed for U.S. Supreme Court review. Although the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 doesn’t give artists free rein to create artwork on private property, it could protect prominent pieces of art made during the protests regardless of traditional property rights.

VARA gives ...