[1] Although federal law had not acknowledged moral rights before this act, some state legislatures and judicial decisions created limited moral-rights protection.
The Berne Convention required the protection of these rights by signatory states, and it was in response that the U.S. Congress passed the VARA.
Purchasers of the works must obtain written waivers from the author if they wish to exercise any of the exclusive rights under VARA.
Absent a waiver, artists could effectively veto decisions to remove their structures from their benefactor's land.
In a 2006 decision involving public sculptures that were removed from the park for which they were created, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that VARA does not protect location as a component of site-specific work.