Supreme Court to hear a dispute over whether Andy Warhol’s portraits of Prince violated a copyright held by the photographer whose work they were based on.
infringed on the copyright of a photographer’s image of the rock star Prince when making a series of his signature silkscreen prints.to people in all kinds of creative industries, including television, film and fine art, on how to define whether new work based on an existing one is “transformative" — meaning it does not violate copyright law.
Under a license it had obtained from Goldsmith, Vanity Fair used a Warhol illustration based on the photo in its November 1984 issue without any problems arising. But Goldsmith said she was not aware that Warhol had created other images that were not licensed, a fact she only became aware of after Vanity Fair publisher Conde Nast used a different image as part of a 2016 Prince tribute immediately after the rock star's death.
The foundation sought Supreme Court review after the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Goldsmith in March 2021. The appeals court faulted the district court for focusing on the artist’s intent, saying a judge “should not assume the role of art critic.” Instead, a judge must examine whether the new work is of a completely different character to the original, the court said.
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