On The Droit De Suite Of Works Of Art

(Droit de Suite or resale royalty right, which was promulgated in France in 1920, is the right of visual artists to receive a percentage of the revenue from the resale of their original works of fine art in the art market. Today it has been introduced into about 40 countries, most of which are civil law countries. In the EU, the possible trade distortion in the internal market caused by the absence of (Droit de Suite in some Member States led to the directive 2001/84/EC that would harmonize it within the EU. The directive will enlarge the scale of its implement all over the world.The Rationality of Droit de Suite is always the focus of attention. To prove it, the two key questions below should be answered: where does the increment of an art work come from; and who can benefit from it?(Droit de Suite is reasonable. On one hand, its characters define that the increment of an art work not only comes from the headwork of the author, but also profits from the investment of the owner. So they can both benefit from the resale increment. On the other hand, (Droit de Suite is a special property right& copy right, affording authors, who are the weaker part in the art market, special protection that other traditional copyright can't afford. So it has its rationality.The necessity and feasibility of (Droit de Suite for visual art work are defined by some social conditions and institutional conditions respectively. Those conditions are not mature in China. Although (Droit de Suite is reasonable, it can't be introduced into China at present.