Sculpture Clash

When Baltimore artist James Earl Reid created a life-size statue of a homeless family, he intended it for an event called the Pageant of Peace. Instead of bringing peace, however, the sculpture has sparked a bitter legal battle over the nation's copyright laws.

The case began in 1985 when the Washington-based Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) commissioned Reid to craft the sculpture. The CCNV, an advocacy group for the homeless, agreed to pay $15,000 for materials and other costs, and Reid agreed to donate his services. But after the statue was completed, the two sides started sparring over the copyright -- specifically, who would profit from using the sculpture's image on cards and calendars.

CCNV leader Mitch Snyder claims that Reid was merely carrying out his instructions. Counters Reid: "Whatever ingredients were involved in that work were synthesized through me." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sent the case last May to a lower court to consider whether the parties jointly owned the copyright. Snyder appealed, and the case will be heard by the Supreme Court in March.

At the core of the dispute is the question of who owns the copyright to commissioned "intellectual property," be it art, writing, movies or computer software. Several federal courts of appeal have split on the issue when freelance work is involved. Since millions of dollars are potentially at stake down the line, Snyder's group has found itself allied with some major corporate interests. Supporting briefs have been filed by trade associations, whose members include I.B.M., Procter & Gamble and Dow Chemical, as well as publishing companies such as the New York Times Co., Time Inc. and the Hearst Corp. Reid has also managed to attract some influential supporters. The Justice Department has taken his side, as have two coalitions of artists who are worried about losing the rights to their artwork.