![handle is hein.journals/washjolta18 and id is 1 raw text is:
WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF LAW, TECHNOLOGY & ARTS
VOLUME 18, ISSUE 1 WINTER 2023
THIS ARTWORK IS ALWAYS ON SALE: THE NEED FOR A U.S. RESALE ROYALTY RIGHT FOR
DIGITAL VISUAL ARTISTS IN THIS TECHNOLOGICAL AGE, AND PROOF OF CONCEPT THROUGH
THE BLOCKCHAIN AND NFTs EXPLOSION'
Janae Camacho2
The roots of great innovation are never just in the technology itself They are always in
the wider historical context. They require new ways of seeing. David Brooks, New
York Times, 2011]
ABSTRACT
With the explosion of the internet, social media, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and
blockchain technology, there has been a shift in how people consume and commercialize art,
thus resulting in the increased use of digital visual mediums to create, purchase, and receive
payment for visual artwork. This increase has renewed the question of whether the United States
should implement a resale royalty right for visual work artists. This question is of concern,
especially in this digital age where it has become more difficult for digital visual artists to
receive equitable compensation for their work, like that of their musical and written counterparts,
due to how the internet operates.
As a result of the lack of a resale royalty right within the United States, many visual
artists have been left on their own to create means by which they can receive equitable
compensation for their work outside of the initial sale. The lack of governmental assistance in
rectifying the inequitable compensation between visual artists and other artists under copyright
law has further pushed these visual artists to find payment for their work in the digital arena.
For decades, the idea of implementing a version of the droit de suite or resale royalty
right for visual artists has been discarded by those in the legislative branch of the United States.
While those that have opposed such a right cite the (1) lack of financial incentives for artists; (2)
negative economic impact on to cost of artwork; and (3) administrative effort required to develop
and maintain such a right as reasons why it would not be achievable within the United States, we
have seen through the explosion and use of NFTs and blockchain technology that many of these
concerns can be dismissed.
This Article argues that the explosion and use of NFTs and blockchain technology to
facilitate a resale royalty right amongst digital visual artists provides Congress with a proof of
concept that the implementation of such a right has practical potential and could be feasible.
1 Simon de la Rouviere, THE ARTWORK Is ALWAYS ON SALE V2 (2020).
2 Janae D. Camacho, University of Washington School of Law, Class of 2023; Colorado State University Global,
B.S. 2019. Thank you, Professor David Ziff, of the University of Washington School of Law, for providing me
valuable feedback and guiding me through the editing process and Professor Jane Winn, of the University of
Washington School of Law, for providing me with invaluable guidance and a different perspective during this
process.
3 David Brooks, Where Are The Jobs?, THE NEW YORK TIMES (October 6, 2011),
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/opinion/brooks-where-are-the-jobs.html.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/washjolta18&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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