In a case that could help clarify when and how artists can make use of the work of others, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a copyright dispute between a photographer and Andy Warhol's estate over Warhol's 1984 paintings of rock star Prince.
The justices took up the Andy Warhol Foundation's appeal of a lower court ruling that his paintings - based on a photo of Prince that photographer Lynn Goldsmith had shot for Newsweek magazine in 1981 - were not protected by the copyright law doctrine called fair use. This doctrine permits unlicensed use of copyright-protected works under certain circumstances.
A judge ruled that Warhol's works were protected against Goldsmith's infringement claims by the fair use doctrine, finding they transformed Goldsmith's portrayal of Prince as a "vulnerable human being" by depicting him as an "iconic, larger-than-life figure." The Andy Warhol Foundation asked the Supreme Court in December to overturn the 2nd Circuit decision, arguing that it created "a cloud of legal uncertainty" for an entire genre of art like Warhol's.
Goldsmith said in a statement provided by one of her lawyers that she looks forward to continuing her legal fight at the Supreme Court.