Art is the central core of creative industries and all the activities in these industries are categorized according to their relation to copyright. What matters in the today's world art market is not just buying and selling of artworks as an asset class, but also buying and selling the copyright. In fact, world trade in the arts is divided into tangible assets (works of art) and intangible assets (property rights); interestingly, the income gained out of selling intangible assets is greater than that of the tangible ones.

Contemporary art is considered the most important trend in today’s art world. Because of its unique features, it has created serious challenges for several related fields of study including intellectual property rights. These challenges have been intensified by the particular situation of Iran. To study these topics, this paper is arranged in four main parts. First, it briefly deals with the art market and its developments. Some considerable challenges to the intellectual property rights in the contemporary art are discussed afterwards. Then, it addresses the peculiar circumstances of Iran and the problems faced by the Iranian contemporary art as a result of not accepting the international arrangements. Last, along with the conclusion, recommendations are made to policymakers as well as artists.