The Andy Warhol Foundation suffered a major legal setback on Friday.
An appeals court reversed a case the foundation had won in a series of images of Prince made by Warhol.
In 2017, the Warhol Foundation preemptively sued famous rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith after she notified the foundation of a possible copyright problem stemming from a photo of Prince she took in the 1980s Warhol allegedly used the image to inspire a series of silkscreen artwork.
The foundation sued Goldsmith to argue that the photos of the Prince of Warhol were under fair use law. Goldsmith countered, but his case was dismissed in federal court.
But on Friday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that: “We conclude that the district court made a mistake in assessing and applying fair use factors and that the works in question do not qualify as fair use for the sake of law. ”The decision added:“ Likewise, we conclude that [Warhol’s Prince works] are substantially similar to Goldsmith Photography as a matter of law. “
With the decision reversed, Goldsmith’s case may proceed again.
In 1981, Goldsmith photographed the then-future artist Prince in his studio.
Friday’s decision even revealed some behind-the-scenes details of the shoot: “Prince, who according to Goldsmith looked nervous and uncomfortable, withdrew to the green room shortly after the start of the session and finally left without allowing Goldsmith to take more Photos. During the truncated session, Goldsmith took 23 photographs, 12 in black and white and 11 in color. Goldsmith retained the copyright for each of the photos he took. “
In 1984, Goldsmith’s agency licensed one of Prince’s photos to Vanity Fair as an “artist reference” for an anonymous artist to make the riff. Goldsmith did not know that the artist at the time was Warhol – who supposedly “did not stop with the image that Vanity Fair commissioned him to create, but created fifteen more works, which together became known as the Prince series”, according to Friday. market. decision.
Warhol’s image was aired on Vanity Fair in its November 1984 edition with credit to Goldsmith as a photographer, but Goldsmith never saw it, and she only became aware of Warhol’s image – or the Prince series – after Prince’s death in 2016.
When Prince died, Vanity Fair asked the Warhol Foundation to publish the same image as its 1984 article, “Purple Fame”, according to court documents. The image was shown again, but without credit to Goldsmith, and only to the foundation.
The court papers say that, “Between 1993 and 2004, [the Warhol Foundation] sold or transferred custody of 12 of the original Prince series works to third parties and, in 1998, transferred custody of the other four works to the Andy Warhol Museum. ”
Warhol’s rights arm also “continues to license images for editorial, commercial and museum use.”
It looks like the cool show now goes to the Prince Series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new decision may be welcomed by some entertainment professionals in their own legal battles.
Warhol died in 1987 at the age of 58.