PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 26, 2014
American Royalties Too Act of 2014 - Expands copyright owners' exclusive rights, in the case of a work of visual art, to include the right to collect or authorize the collection of a royalty if the work is sold by a person other than the author for at least $5,000 in an auction.
Defines "auction" as a public sale of visual art to the highest bidder run by an entity that sold at least $1 million of works of visual art during the previous year.
Revises the term "work of visual art" to make requirements for photographs consistent with requirements for paintings, drawings, and prints. (Currently, a photograph must be a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only.)
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Limits the amount of such a royalty to the lesser of: (1) 5% of the purchase price; or (2) $35,000, subject to cost-of-living adjustments.
Directs entities conducting such auctions to collect and pay the royalties to a visual artists' copyright collecting society. Requires the collecting society, at least four times each year, to distribute the appropriate royalties (minus administrative expenses) to authors or successor copyright owners.
Requires an author of a work of visual art, in order to be eligible to receive such a royalty, to: (1) be a citizen of, or domiciled in, the United States or a country that provides resale royalty rights; or (2) have first created the work in the United States or a country that provides such royalty rights.
Establishes a copyright infringement offense for the failure to pay such a royalty. Subjects infringers to: (1) statutory damages, and (2) liability for the full royalty.
Prohibits the sale, assignment, or waiver of the right to collect such a royalty, subject to exceptions for works made for hire and transfers of copyright ownership.
Directs the Register of Copyrights to issue regulations governing visual artists' copyright collecting societies.
People & committees
Rep. Nadler, Jerrold [D-NY-10] · D–NY
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.4103 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.4103 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.4103 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.4103 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.