I’m Seriously Concerned For New Zealand Artists
I’m Seriously Concerned For New Zealand Artists
I am seriously concerned for New Zealand artists, writers and musicians about their right to own their own work and copyright. Last week supreme court of New Zealand gave their verdict in my case, first of its kind here, that artists copyright is relationship property.
I don’t wish upon anyone the hell that I’ve had to go through with this process.
Years of fear, agony, sorrow and shear despair when someone is trying to destroy you with your own art has broken me many times.
This is a precedent setting case which will be used as an example in future cases like this.
I am gravely concerned that this opens up avenues for abusers to weaponise any artistic works against the creator when there’s a divorce or separation with a nasty person.
Not only when separating, but it surely can be used as coercive control method against the partner even during the relationship if they threaten to leave. And it surely will be used to blackmail and extort more of the relationship property pool, like house etc.
Because let’s be frank, who in their right mind would really want to have rights to their ex partners artistic works. Why would you want any reminder of the ex partner in your life?
Nobody who’s morally and mentally healthy.
But this sure will open the floodgates to abusers.
The whole thing is obviously just to get more money out of the partner, a bigger share of the actual relationship property.
To use the most personal and meaningful thing against the artist, their art, is now being legalised here as a legitimate method of extorting more when dividing up property.
In my case , the only little win, after years in court battle, was that it was determined that the artwork had been weaponised in the past and was used, and potentially would be used in the future for coercive control, so I retained the right to decide how the copyright to be used, to stop the abuse and control. But still having to compensate the half of the value of it. A valuing task that nobody in New Zealand even knows how to do. And as it turns out, that’s what the goal was all along, not the actual copyright, just more money.
So now, with this decision, it has been legitimised here in NZ that this is the kind of soul destroying process artists are forced to go through, even to get this minuscule win like the control of your own copyright.
It is ridiculous and it is wrong. I am utterly disheartened and like I’ve said before Im leaving New Zealand. Ive lost my fight to keep the art studio and my home in the Sounds, so I’m done here.
I cannot bear to stay and watch other artists to have to go through the same hell.
You can say whatever you want about prenups and give advice to make a contract. Who does that!
The law should protect the artists to their own copyright, and for the original works for that matter, outright, automatically, all the time, and in every case. It is not the artists duty to have to go and make contracts or whatever. Copyright and their artworks belong to the artist alone.
Art circles, Law circles, IP circles, all following this case with interest, watching from the sidelines.
Where is the art community?
Where are the art institutions and artists that this decision is going to affect so much?
Where is the dialog, campaigning and expressions of outrage in public?
I feel I’m here alone, battling this injustice alone, where the weapon against me is my own art, my art that is the deepest part of my being and my soul.
Let’s be real here, this never was about the intellectual academic arguments about the actual copyright. It was a hillbilly style grab-what-you-can attack out of spite on my being and my soul when the control over me was lost.
And now I know I won’t be the last one to have to go through this, and it makes me absolutely despondent.
I thought NZ could do better than this.
The Supreme Court decision below.
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2025/2025-NZSC-9.pdf