‘Misappropriation’ Art or Transformative Fair Use? It’s Complicated!

‘Misappropriation’ Art or Transformative Fair Use? It’s Complicated! – NPPA Advocacy Committee

In the ongoing copyright infringement case by photographer Patrick Cariou against “appropriation artist” Richard Prince, both sides have filed briefs respectively supporting and opposing the August 21, 2013 petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Cario

via NPPA Advocacy Committee: http://blogs.nppa.org/advocacy/2013/10/17/misappropriation-art-or-transformative-fair-use-its-complicated/

To illustrate how difficult these types of decisions are, the case involved 30 pieces of artwork, but the appeals court was only able to make a determination on 25 of them, remanding the remaining 5 pieces back to the lower court for application of “the proper standard” so as to “determine in the first instance whether any of them infringes on Cariou’s copyrights or whether Prince is entitled to a fair use defense with regard to those artworks as well.”