Intellectual Property
Oct. 28, 2025
Moral rights and the Vaillancourt Fountain
Fifty years after its completion, San Francisco's massive Brutalist Vaillancourt Fountain faces removal as part of a plaza redesign, raising questions over whether artist Armand Vaillancourt can invoke California's moral rights laws to preserve his iconic -- and controversial -- concrete sculpture.
Hall of Justice
Simon J. Frankel
Judge
Prelim hearings
Yale Law School
Simon serves as chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Rights practice.
The Vaillancourt Fountain is back in the news.
Fifty years after it was completed and some years after the water was shut off, there are plans to remove the fountain as part of construction of a new park in San Francisco. Can the creator or proponents of the fountain somehow preserve it?
The city commissioned the work by Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt, and it was completed in 1971. ...
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