The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), (Pub.L. 101–650 title VI, 17 U.S.C. § 106A), is a United States law granting certain rights to artists. VARA was the first federal copyright legislation to grant protection to moral rights. Under VARA, works of art that meet certain requirements afford their authors additional rights in the works, regardless of any subsequent physical ownership of the work itself, or regardless of who holds the copyright to the work. For instance, a painter may insist on proper attribution of their painting, and in some instances may sue the owner of the physical painting for destroying the painting even if the owner of the painting lawfully owned it.