DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law Volume 5 Issue 1 Winter 1994/Spring 1995 Article 5 Copyright Problems in Post-Modern Art Lori Petruzzelli Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jatip Recommended Citation Lori Petruzzelli, Copyright Problems in Post-Modern Art, 5 DePaul J. Art, Tech. & Intell. Prop. L. 115 (1995) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jatip/vol5/iss1/5 This Case Notes and Comments is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Petruzzelli: Copyright Problems in Post-Modern Art COPYRIGHT PROBLEMS IN POST-MODERN ART Lori Petruzzellr I. INTRODUCTION Copyright law establishes a framework to protect artistic creation by providing a system of economic incentives. By granting an artist property rights in her work, the Copyright Act fosters the production of a wide array of creative works from many different genres.' To this end, the Copyright Act does not define art, rather it draws lines and sets forth flexible categories of works which are eligible for protection. There are no qualitative tests, simply a low threshold of origi- nality and a requirement that the work be an expression, not an idea.2 Even with this broad framework and flexible approach, the Copyright Act fails to extend protection to many movements within post-modem art. Post-modemism rebels against the traditional norms of originality, ownership, and expression that define copyright protection.