The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Wednesday whether the late Andy Warhol infringed on a photographer's copyright when he created a series of silkscreens of the musician Prince.
will consider Wednesday whether the late Andy Warhol infringed on a photographer's copyright when he created a series of silkscreens of the musician Prince.
In the case at hand, a district court ruled in favour of Warhol, basing its decision on the fact that the two works in question had a different meaning and message. But an appeals court reversed -- ruling that a new meaning or message is not enough to qualify for fair use.
Goldsmith -- who specializes in celebrity portraits and earns money on licensing -- had taken the picture initially while on assignment for Newsweek. Her photos of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley are all a part of the court's record. Upon learning about the series, Goldsmith recognized her work and contacted the Warhol Foundation advising it of copyright infringement. She registered her photo with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The appeals court said the district court was wrong to assume the "role of art critic" and base its test for fair use on the meaning of the artistic work. Instead, the court should have looked at the degree of visual similarity between the two works. "Critically, the Prince Series retains the essential elements of the Goldsmith Photograph without significantly adding to or altering those elements, " the court concluded.In appealing the case on behalf of the Warhol Foundation, lawyer Roman Martinez argued that the appeals court had gone badly wrong by forbidding courts from considering the meaning of the work as a part of a fair use analysis.
He noted that Warhol's works are currently found in collections across the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Smithsonian collection and the Tate Modern in London. From 2004 through 2014 Warhol auction sales exceeded $3 billion.
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