Delaware (DE) Copyright Law CLE Course Catalog

Did you know that authors have “moral rights” that allow them to exercise some measure of control over their works even after those works are sold? In the United States, moral rights are codified in the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”) and subsequent case law. Experienced intellectual property litigator Peter Afrasiabi provides an introduction to moral rights while discussing key cases interpreting VARA in the context of various works of art including murals, sculptures, street graffiti, “living art” such as gardens, and other interesting examples.

In this fun and timely program, Peter Afrasiabi examines the colorful history of politicians using popular songs at campaign events and the legal disputes with musicians who opposed their works being used in this way. From such famous examples as President Reagan using Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” and former President Trump using Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” this program delivers a tour-de-force analysis of copyright, trademark and right of publicity law applied to musical compositions used to sell political campaigns.

Veteran intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi traces the origins of the right of publicity and explains how this right applies when recordings of mimicked human voices are used for commercial exploitation.