Intellectual Property Rights and New Media Art

  • Heather Seneff University of Denver
Keywords: new media, new media arts, media art, intellectual property rights, copyright, computer art, digital art, new technologies, Marcel Duchamp, copyleft, Creative Commons, originality

Abstract

This paper addresses issues concerning new media art and intellectual property rights, especially in terms of nomenclature. What is new media art? The author examines new media and copyright law to discuss how intellectual property is determined to be copyrightable in terms of new technologies. What is the role of copyright in creativity? How can this role change when considering technologies and practices that eschew or circumvent copyright? Open source software and copyleft will be also addressed in this paper. Does originality change in the Age of Technology and what factors have influenced our concept of originality? The author will come to some conclusions about new media art, in the context of intellectual property rights and copyright.

Author Biography

Heather Seneff, University of Denver

Heather Seneff is the Director of the Visual Media Center in the School of Art & Art History at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. She is a long-time member of the VRA, currently serving on the Intellectual Property Rights Committee and the Travel Awards Committee. She has also been active in local VRA Chapters in Washington State and then in Colorado. She presented on this paper topic in Philadelphia, at the 2018 VRA conference.

Published
2020-02-08
Section
Feature Articles