Firm News

On June 12, 2023, Partner Michael Kasdan was featured in Best Lawyer’s article, “SCOTUS Rules in Andy Warhol Fair Use Case.” In the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith copyright infringement case, the Supreme Court ruled against the Estate of the artist Andy Warhol in the first case involving fair use doctrine since 1994. Lynn Goldsmith, the photographer, claimed against Warhol’s Estate after discovering he had used one of her Prince photographs in his own portrait series. Warhol’s estate claimed it was “fair use”, but the courts ruled against his estate. Kasdan said, “Fair use is a common and important defense that often is raised in response to claims of copyright infringement. The fair use doctrine is a longstanding and important aspect of American copyright law that is intended to balance the interests of later-coming artists in the creative process. Fair use limits the right of copyright holders in certain circumstances, including situations where the second work of art is based on, inspired by or draws on the first work.” Kasdan pointed out the balance SCOTUS needs to strike between granting rights to the first artist and allowing a limited scope of fair use to the second artist, saying, “It seems that the majority was afraid that a too-broad conception of fair use could lead to the fair use exception swallowing the rule and too much widespread copying. A test that focuses on the commercial marketplace also avoids the thorny issue of court’s evaluating whether art is ‘transformative enough’ to be fair.”

To read the article, click here.