Droit de Suite – The Artists’ Resale Right

Abstract

This article looks at the droit de suite, which is a legally recognised right that forms part of copyright law and more widely, intellectual property law. The article reviews the present restrictive application of the law, analyses the definition of the “artist” and discusses the merit of a wider interpretation and application of the droit de suite. The English translation of droit de suite literally means the ‘right to follow’ and, in the context of the artists’ resale right, it allows artists to follow the future success of their artistic works. This future success involves an economic entitlement that the artist may participate in. In practical terms this means that, after the first sale of the artistic work, every subsequent public sale, for instance through a dealer or a gallery, is subject to a sort of royalty. Royalties in the traditional sense entitle various types of artistic creators, such as ...