Kamala Harris Surprises Young Artist by Putting His Painting on the Second Family's Holiday Card

[Ms. Toad]

37. That's confirmation bias.

Would you feel the same way if this had happened during the prior administration? Do you remember how much outrage there has been when Republicans have used the music of popular musicians in their rallies - even when they have paid BMI, ASCAP, etc.?

Artists, as a general rule, have a right to control the use of their work. Artists face an uphill battle to protect their copyright interests, since most people don't see the harm in grabbing photos off of the internet, ripping CDs of their favorite songs, etc. The individual cost of enforcing copyright is high enough that (aside from music licensing when BMI/ASCAP are involved) most artists just give up. I have had to sit with artists and tell them, "You could go to court to enforce your rights. You could chase infringers from website to website to have your work taken down. But the cost to that in money (in the first instance) and time (in the second) is far more than you will ever sell your artwork for.

No one should be entering someone else's artwork into a contest without their permission - regardless of the outcome. Our administration should be modeling behavior that respects artists' rights, not modeling do-it-wrong-first, beg forgiveness (or throw money) the fact - or even all's-well-that-ends-well behavior (regardless of how we got here).