Tag Archives: fair use

Double Glazed: Taking Artists’ Rights Seriously and… Algorithmically

Posted on: March 4, 2024 by Chen Zhu

The Cybernetic Milkmaid What would Vermeer (1632-1675) feel if he lived until today when he suddenly discovered that his artistic style could be reproduced by state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools? How would Han van Meegeren (1889-1947), a skilful art forger who infamously fooled Nazis with his faked Old Masters’ paintings (including Vermeer’s), react to […]

A Step Toward Fencing in Aberrant Artistic Appropriation

Posted on: February 19, 2024 by Molly Stech

On 25 January, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered judgements against appropriation artist Richard Prince and his co‑defendants Laurence Gagosian, the Gagosian Gallery and Blum & Poe Gallery. The cases are Graham v. Prince et al (15 cv 10160) and McNatt v. Prince et al (16 cv 08896). […]

Pending AI Suits in the US: Frivolous or Crucial?

Posted on: June 9, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy

The US Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law held a hearing in May 2023 on “Oversight of AI: Rules for Artificial Intelligence”. During that hearing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified about the myriad of issues raised by generative AI. Certainly content creators/owners “need to benefit from this technology”, Altman offered. But […]

Andy Warhol decision at US Supreme Court: a whimper, not a bang

Posted on: May 22, 2023 by Alexander Herman

Pity the Andy Warhol Foundation. Not only did the Foundation have to close its associated authentication board in 2012, but now it has lost what was probably the most high-profile artistic copyright lawsuit of a generation. Although Warhol’s artworks and his brand continue to enjoy high levels of popularity and financial success, the Foundation has […]

Copyright in America

Posted on: April 20, 2021 by Alexander Herman

Every so often, we take a peek at the copyright situation in the USA. There are many reasons for this. Stateside, art and copyright cases are more plentiful than in the UK (and much of the world), perhaps because there is more at stake financially or simply because the culture is more litigious. Additionally, the […]

Recent US court case sheds light on copyright law and tattoos

Posted on: May 8, 2020 by Charlotte Dunn

In a recent US judgment, the court addressed the tricky topic of copyright and tattoos. This is an area in which many uncertainties and questions arise. Are tattoos copyright works? If so, who owns that copyright? How does copyright impact the tattooed individual’s ability to publicise their likeness and express themselves freely? The case in […]

Ticking Away: Christian Marclay’s The Clock and Copyright Law

Posted on: September 12, 2018 by Alexander Herman

A stern-looking man with a gun turns towards a metallic device mounted on the wall. He places one hand on the device’s handle and checks his watch. It is 12.04. Next we see an analogue clock hanging above a presenter reading the BBC radio news into a microphone. The time on the clock reads 12.05. […]

Richard Prince’s ‘New Portraits’…another twist in the tale

Posted on: August 30, 2016 by Emily Gould

Our attention has been drawn yet again, this week, to the vexed question of ‘fair use’ as an exception to copyright protection under US law. When is a new work of art which draws on an existing copyright work acceptable, and when does it overstep the mark? The saga surrounding well-known appropriation artist Richard Prince […]

Study Forum in London on 27 June

Posted on: May 12, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

There will be an IAL Study Forum on Saturday 27 June 2015 from 9.30 am until 5.00 pm at Notre Dame University, 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HX. The event will have an international theme with topics to include: new developments in the Gurlitt affair, fair use under US copyright law, protection of indigenous cultural heritage in […]

New ‘fair use’ guide for artists, art historians and art critics

Posted on: March 4, 2015 by Alexander Herman

For those intrigued, perplexed or in need of a practical guide on how to deal with that beast known as the ‘fair use’ exception in US copyright law, look no further. The College Art Association, the professional body of those who work in art, art history and art criticism in the United States, has just released its long […]