On Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Andy Warhole he had no right to use Prince’s photo as the “base” for a series of portraits that made millions. Many considered this case decisive in the question of whether artists are allowed to create works of art based on the materials of other authors.
The Supreme Court has just ruled in a landmark case between the Andy Warhol Foundation and photographer Lynn Goldsmith.
The court sided 7-2 in favor of Goldsmith, whose photo of Prince was later used in Warhol’s portrait.
— Bradley Calleja (@bradleycalleja) May 18, 2023
Photographer Lynn Goldsmith captured Prince in 1981, and in 1984 Warhol used the photographs to create a series of portraits of the pop singer.
The portraits were released as silkscreens in a variety of colors, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for the Andy Warhol Foundation, a non-governmental organization set up after the famed artist’s death to promote his work.
On March 29, 2021, the New York-based United States Court of Appeals ruled that Warhol’s work was not transformative enough, with photography by Lynn Goldsmith dominating. Thus, the copyright of the photographer was clearly violated.
The US Copyright Office submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court arguing that Andy Warhol’s use of the photograph was illegal, as pointed out by the National Association of Photojournalists and the American Society of Photographic Artists.
Source: Kathimerini
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