This document provides an overview of legal issues related to creating and exhibiting art during the winter holiday season. It discusses how the message, expression, and visualization of holiday art can raise copyright, trademark, censorship, and liability concerns depending on the specific religious or secular content. The document also reviews strategies for legally exhibiting and selling holiday art through festivals, auctions, and gifts. It concludes with a humorous example of an overly cautious "legal holiday greeting."

1. Art Law and the Holidays
Deborah Gonzalez, Esq.
Binders Art School, Nov. 2011

2. Disclaimer
 This presentation is for educational
purposes only and does not constitute
legal advice. It is recommended that you
seek legal counsel for specific matters.

3. Overview
 Introduction
 What is a holiday?
 How to keep your art legal during the
holidays?
 Q&A

4. Introduction
Deborah Gonzalez, Esq.
IP Attorney
Art, Music & Entertainment Law
Atlanta – New York
706-614-9915
dgartlaw@att.net

5. Who are you?
Name?
Art Genre?
How long an artist?
What are your goals as an artist?
What do you want to learn from this
presentation?

6. What is a holiday?
 A day free from work that one may spend at
leisure, especially a day on which custom or the
law dictates a halting of general business
activity to commemorate or celebrate a
particular event.
 A religious feast day; a holy day.
 Chiefly British A vacation. Often used in the
phrase on holiday.
 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Holiday

7. Winter Seasonal Holidays?
 Thanksgiving (Nov.)
 Christmas
 Hanukah
 Kwanzaa
 Winter Solstice
 Boxing Day (Dec. 26)
 New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31)
 Three Kings Day/Epiphany (Jan. 6)

8. Winter Seasonal Holidays?
 Countries may also celebrate:
 Independence Day
 A day in recognition of a national hero
 Other religious day (saints, etc.)

9. Keeping Holiday Art Legal?
 Trouble can happen because of the:
 Message (spiritual vs secular)
 Expression of the Message (copyrights,
trademarks, offensive, censorship)
 Visualization of the Message (personal
injury/location)
 Exhibiting Art During the Holidays

10. Message
 What is the message?
 Is the message religious, secular, targeted
to a certain population only?
 Is the message your message or the
message of someone who is paying you
to do the art work?

11. Message
 The Establishment Clause
 “Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion”
 Extended to all government levels and
agencies.

12. Message
 Christmas Banned in Boston (1659)
 Lasted 22 years
 Penalty – 5 shillings per offense
 Public Schools and the Holidays
 Separation of state and church
 Bias towards one religion over another
 Christmas Tree vs. Holiday Tree

13. Expression of the Message
 Copyrights of Holiday Art
 Originality vs generic iconic symbols
 Copyrights vs patents (for certain
ornaments, etc.)

14. Expression of the Message
 USPTO – 122 Records with a trademark using
“Santa Claus”
 Coca-cola has Trademarked the Santa Claus
drawing
 2005 “Santa Claus” Trademarked for a video
game (abandoned; David DePaulis; CA)

15. Expression of the Message
 Domain Names
 Global access owns christmas.com since
1997
 Versimedia owns Hanukkah.com since 1997
 P. Gordon owns Holidays.com
 Photos with Santa
 Photographer owns the copyright in the photo
 Can’t make reprints w/out their permission

16. Expression of the Message
 Background Music to Art Installations or
Exhibits
 Music Licensing Rights
 YouTube
 Classic Media owns Rudolf’s Red Nose, Frosty
the Snowman, and the Little Drummer Boy

17. Expression of the Message
 Censorship of holiday messages vs. First
Amendment Freedom of Speech
 What is offensive and to whom?

18. Visualization of the Message
 Special concerns for 3D art and physical
installations.
 Personal injury to a viewer (liability waiver
between artist and venue)
 Public Art Liability Insurance (depending on
location)
 Holiday Art Parties – Host Liabilities

19. Exhibiting Art During the Holidays
 Festivals & Fairs
 Silent Auctions/Donations
 Gifts (taxes)

20. Legal Holiday Greeting
 Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my
best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially
responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral
celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced
within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your
choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion
and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to
practice religious or secular traditions at all.

21. Legal Holiday Greeting
 I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling
and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of
the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not
without due respect for the calendars of choice of other
cultures whose contributions to society have helped
make America great. Not to imply that America is
necessarily greater than any other country nor the only
America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is
made without regard to the
race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or
sexual preference of the wishee.

22. Legal Holiday Greeting
 By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the
aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not
subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It
implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement
any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void
where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole
discretion of the wisher.

23. Legal Holiday Greeting
 This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the
usual application of good tidings for a period of one year
or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting,
whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to
replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at
the sole discretion of the wisher.
Gary Farnsworth
http://www.nachi.org/forum/f14/legal-christmas-greeting-56127/

24. Q&A