The Visual Artists Rights Act in augmented and virtual realities

Abstract

The expansion of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has brought to light the gaps in U.S. law regarding moral rights protections in the digital age. The U.S. offers limited protection of moral rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA). Although protections are limited, AR and VR programs could violate artists’ moral rights under VARA by modifying existing art used in their programs and by not giving an artist’s work attribution. Another question that has emerged is whether VARA could protect digitally produced art. VARA is a limiting statute and narrowly defined visual art to exclude most digitally produced art. Therefore, in order for digital art to be protected under VARA, the U.S. needs to modernize the statute to fit into a digital world.