After the skirmish over whether GoldieBlox’s video featuring the melody and parodied lyrics of “Girls” by the Beastie Boys was fair use or infringement, the company abruptly altered the video in question on its website. The same video is now accompanied by different music. The company also issued the following statement on its blog: “We… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Copyright
Subscribe to Copyright RSS FeedGoldieBlox Parodies the Beastie Boys and “Girls”—Fair Use is Clear, What About Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”?
Posted in Copyright, Fair UseCoverage has exploded this week of a dispute between the Beastie Boys and a company called “GoldieBlox,” over the latter’s use of the song “Girls” in a video encouraging engineering and structural play toys for girls. Despite coverage focusing on whether Goldie Box copied the Beastie Boys’ song (which is undisputed, really, and thus beside… Continue Reading
5Pointz Not of “Recognized Stature” Under the Visual Artists Rights Act? Court Takes the Narrow View and Paintings are Whitewashed
Posted in Copyright, LitigationAmidst all the coverage over famed graffiti artist Banksy’s recent “residence” in New York and questions about how artistic license would fare against trespassing and graffiti laws (short answer: poorly), another graffiti case in New York this month has explored the reach of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA). Ultimately, the law did… Continue Reading
Lauren Clay, the David Smith Estate, David Dodde, and Fair Use: Are We Learning Anything?
Posted in Copyright, Fair Use, Intellectual PropertyA pair of recent disputes over sculpture, fair use and moral rights highlights the ongoing concern that Prince v. Cariou has made things worse, not better. The first concerns the estate of sculptor David Smith, and sculptor Lauren Clay. As Art in America put it, “Clay’s works replicate the shapes of Smith’s large metal ‘Cubi’… Continue Reading
Free Speech, Fair Use, and Meaning—Recapping An Evening of Copyright and the Visual Arts at the Sotheby’s Institute
Posted in Copyright, EventsLast night was a fascinating evening at the Sotheby’s Institute in New York, where Judith Prowda was celebrating the launch of her new book Visual Arts and the Law (Lund Humphries 2013). The book, not at all incidentally, is a must-have. Professor Prowda moderated a panel discussion between Amy Adler of NYU Law School, and… Continue Reading
IBA Annual Conference Starts Today in Boston
Posted in Copyright, Events, Intellectual Property, TrademarkI’ll be at the International Bar Association Conference all week here in Boston, starting tonight. Among others, I’m looking forward to the sessions below (the first featuring my partner at Sullivan & Worcester, Laura Steinberg, the trademark panel featuring my partner at Sullivan & Worcester Kim Herman, and others given by the Art, Cultural Institutions… Continue Reading
Fair Use and Social Utility: Google Books Case Could Drive Copying of Visual Arts in the Name of Access
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual PropertyComments by the federal judge overseeing the copyright dispute arising out of the Google Books project could portend a lasting effect on reproductions of visual arts. Elevating the question of social benefit in a fair use analysis, Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York posed a question… Continue Reading
Coverage of Lessig “Lisztomania” DCMA Takedown Lawsuit Continues
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual PropertyNews media have started to pick up on the lawsuit filed in August by Lawrence Lessig, which challenges takedown notice practices by Liberation Music under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) in relation to Lessig’s lecture series later posted on YouTube, which featured third party content creators and the song “Lisztomania” by the… Continue Reading
Fair Use and DMCA Take Down—Lawrence Lessig Sues Over YouTube Use of “Lisztomania”
Posted in Copyright, Fair UseOne of the lurking issues in the murky waters of copyright fair use is the takedown notice provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”). The DMCA, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 512, implements two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization treaties and absolves internet service providers (“ISPs”) who disable allegedly infringing content… Continue Reading
A Primer on Transformativeness: Green Day Proves Fair Use of Image in Concert Video
Posted in Copyright, Fair UseThe Ninth Circuit has ruled in favor of the band Green Day in a copyright case that gives much better guidance on fair use and transformativeness than this year’s earlier Prince v. Cariou Second Circuit case. Despite copying an entire image, in the backdrop of a video that showed onstage at a multi-million dollar concert tour,… Continue Reading
They’re “Gonna Work it Out, Bye Bye”—The Velvet Underground and Warhol Foundation Settle Banana Trademark Case
Posted in Copyright, Trademark, UncategorizedThe Velvet Underground and the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts have settled their lawsuit over the right to control iconic “banana” image from the cover of the 1967 legendary The Velvet Underground and Nico album. An earlier September 7, 2012 ruling for the Warhol Foundation finding that that the Velvet Underground had agreed not to sue… Continue Reading
Copyright Office Holds Hearing on Resale Royalty Legislation
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual Property, Resale RoyaltiesThe United States Copyright Office solicited public comment last year on possible droite de suite, or resale royalty legislation. As addressed previously, state law attempts to regulate artists’ rights to resale royalties have been struck down as unconstitutional. Among the issues that the Copyright Office grappled with is the basic question of incentive: if a… Continue Reading
No Infringement in Cariou v. Prince—Second Circuit Plays Art Critic and Finds Fair Use
Posted in CopyrightTwo years after a U.S. District Court decision that sent shock waves through the contemporary art world, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed that earlier finding that Richard Prince infringed the copyright of Patrick Cariou. Instead, the appeals court ruled that all but five Prince works at issue were fair use under the Copyright… Continue Reading
New Sullivan & Worcester Advisory: Supreme Court Responds to Museums’ Concerns in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Posted in CopyrightThe Sullivan & Worcester LLP Art and Museum Law Group has issued a new client advisory about the Supreme Court’s decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. As analyzed in the advisory, the Court has extended the “first sale” doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act to copies of protected works that were lawfully… Continue Reading
“Clark Rockefeller” Picture Ruling Addresses Copyrightable Elements of News Photographs
Posted in CopyrightThe First Circuit Court of Appeals has decided a copyright case that addresses the important elements of what constitutes an expressive work capable of protection. The lines of what can be protected in news photography may not be as simple as the First Circuit opinion suggests. In 2008 the bizarre case of Christian Gerhartsreiter—a man… Continue Reading
German Art Law Updates from the Dispute Resolution in Germany Blog
Posted in Copyright, Forgery, Intellectual PropertyFor those of us trying to follow art law developments in Germany, particularly to get access to original source and court documents in German, Peter Bert’s Dispute Resolution in Germany Blog is a terrific source. Between the Hans Sachs collection case and the contuing fallout from the Wolfgang Beltracchi forgery scandal and the fictional “Jägers… Continue Reading
Copyright Office is Seeking Comment on Resale Royalty Legislation
Posted in Copyright, Resale RoyaltiesThe Art Law Report’s very first post was on the revival of efforts to pass federal legislation on resale royalties, yet there was little movement after that. Earlier this year, the California Resale Royalty Act was struck down on constitutional grounds, a case now on appeal. As a possible sign of movement, the Copyright has… Continue Reading
Happy (early) Birthday to the Art Law Report!
Posted in Collections, Copyright, Cultural Property, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, RestitutionWe launched the Art Law Report one year ago tomorrow. Several dozen posts, thousands of visitors and many more views later, a very special thank you to everyone who has read and followed the blog. The connections made literally all around the world are humbling and enlightening. We continue to strive to provide an interesting… Continue Reading
Velvet Underground’s Copyright Claim Against Warhol Foundation is Dismissed, Trademark Case Goes On
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual Property, TrademarkThe U.S. District Court in Manhattan has dismissed the copyright claim filed by the Velvet Underground against the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts over the iconic “banana” image from the cover of the legendary The Velvet Underground and Nico album. Without reaching the merits of the claim, the court ruled that the Velvet Underground had… Continue Reading
California Law Struck Down as Unconstitutional: U.S. District Court Dismisses California Resale Royalty Act Case against Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and eBay
Posted in Collections, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Legislation, Resale RoyaltiesConsistent with expectations after reports from the court hearing in March, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles dismissed the case brought by artist Chuck Close and others that alleged violations of the California Resale Royalty Act (the “CRRA”) by Sotheby’s, Christie’s and eBay, and ruled that the CRRA is unconstitutional in its entirety. Similar claims… Continue Reading
Golan v. Holder—Foreign Works in Public Domain Back Under Copyright
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual PropertyThe Art and Museum Law Group issued today a client advisory on the implications of Golan v. Holder. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld in Golan v. Holder the constitutionality of a U.S. statute (§ 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual… Continue Reading
Cariou Files Appeals Brief—Is this Case Less Transformative Than It Seemed?
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual Property, UncategorizedPatrick Cariou has filed his much-anticipated responsive brief in the Richard Prince/Gagosian Gallery copyright infringement appeal. Cariou’s brief makes its stand on the question of transformative use. The degree to which a derivative work is transformative of a protected work is, of course, a central element of a fair use analysis about which Prince will have to persuade… Continue Reading
Public Domain Rights and Copyright Clash Over The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual PropertyThe 8th Circuit recently weighed in on the topic of public domain images and copyrighted characters. As my colleagues Kimberly Herman, Michael Matzka and Laura Stacey explore in greater detail in an advisory about the decision, a number of merchandisers were using images from public domain posters and lobby cards from movies like The Wizard of Oz, Gone with… Continue Reading
Prince Copyright Appeal: Warhol Foundation Makes the Case to Reverse Infringement Finding
Posted in Copyright, Intellectual PropertyAfter several months of inactivity, the first brief is available in the Richard Prince appeal of the judgment against him and the Gagosian Gallery earlier this year for infringing on the works of Patrick Cariou. Prince’s arguments of “fair use” of Cariou’s photographs failed to persuade the District Court and the infringing works were ordered… Continue Reading
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