I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1881 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to secure the rights of visual artists 
to copyright, to provide for resale royalties, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 16, 2015 
Mr. NADLER (for himself, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. CHU of California, Ms. JACK-
SON LEE, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. MENG, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and 
Mr. POCAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to secure the rights 
of visual artists to copyright, to provide for resale royal-
ties, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Royalties 
Too Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 101 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended— 
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(1) by inserting after the definition of ‘‘archi-
tectural work’’ the following: 
‘‘An ‘auction’ means a public sale at which a 
work of visual art is sold to the highest bidder and 
which is run by an entity that sold not less than 
$1,000,000 of works of visual art during the pre-
vious year.’’; 
(2) by inserting after the definition of ‘‘Pic-
torial, graphic, and sculptural works’’ the following: 
‘‘For purposes of section 106(b), ‘price’ means 
the aggregate of all installments paid in cash or in- 
kind by or on behalf of a purchaser for a work of 
visual art as the result of the auction of that work.’’; 
(3) by inserting after the definition of ‘‘reg-
istration’’ the following: 
‘‘For 
purposes 
of 
sections 
106(b) 
and 
701(b)(5), ‘sale’ means transfer of ownership or 
physical possession of a work of visual art as the re-
sult of the auction of that work.’’; and 
(4) in the definition of ‘‘work of visual art’’, by 
striking ‘‘A ‘work of visual art’ is—’’ and all that 
follows through ‘‘by the author.’’ and inserting the 
following: ‘‘A ‘work of visual art’ is a painting, 
drawing, print, sculpture, or photograph, existing ei-
ther in the original embodiment or in a limited edi-
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tion of 200 copies or fewer that bear the signature 
or other identifying mark of the author and are con-
secutively numbered by the author, or, in the case 
of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated 
sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively 
numbered by the author and bear the signature or 
other identifying mark of the author.’’. 
SEC. 3. EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS. 
Section 106 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
‘‘Subject to sections 107 through 122’’; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(3) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) in the case of a work of visual art, to col-
lect a royalty for the work if the work is sold by a 
person other than the author of the work for a price 
of not less than $5,000 as the result of an auction. 
‘‘(b) COLLECTION OF ROYALTY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The collection of a royalty 
under subsection (a)(7) shall be conducted in accord-
ance with this subsection. 
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‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF ROYALTY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The royalty shall be 
an amount equal to the lesser of— 
‘‘(i) 5 percent of the price paid for the 
work of visual art; or 
‘‘(ii) $35,000. 
‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNT.—In 2016 
and each year thereafter, the dollar amount de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be in-
creased by an amount equal to the product of— 
‘‘(i) that dollar amount; and 
‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de-
termined under section 1(f)(3) of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 for the year, 
determined by substituting ‘calender year 
2016’ for ‘calendar year 1992’ in subpara-
graph (B) thereof. 
‘‘(3) COLLECTION OF ROYALTY.— 
‘‘(A) COLLECTION.—Not later than 90 
days after the date on which the auction occurs, 
the entity that conducts the auction shall— 
‘‘(i) collect the royalty; and 
‘‘(ii) pay the royalty to a visual art-
ists’ copyright collecting society. 
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‘‘(B) DISTRIBUTION.—Not fewer than 4 
times each year, the visual artists’ copyright 
collecting society shall distribute to the author 
or his or her successor as copyright owner an 
amount equal to the difference between— 
‘‘(i) the net royalty attributable to the 
sales of the author; and 
‘‘(ii) the reasonable administrative ex-
penses of the collecting society as deter-
mined by regulations issued under section 
701(b)(5). 
‘‘(4) FAILURE TO PAY ROYALTY.—Failure to 
pay a royalty provided for under this subsection 
shall— 
‘‘(A) constitute an infringement of copy-
right; and 
‘‘(B) be subject to— 
‘‘(i) the payment of statutory damages 
under section 504(c); and 
‘‘(ii) liability for payment of the full 
royalty due. 
‘‘(5) RIGHT TO COLLECT ROYALTY.—The right 
to collect a royalty under this subsection may not be 
sold, assigned, or waived except as provided in sec-
tion 201. 
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