Copyright/Fair Use Court Cases?

lpetiti

Hi everyone! I'm develop curriculum for a new advanced digital arts class for next school year (high school). I want to finally teach them about copyright and fair use. My plan is to have groups research some court cases and form their own opinions based on the evidence given.

I'm trying to find some art specific examples about copyright court cases but keep coming up short. So far the one I can think of is the Bratz lawsuit, but does anyone have suggestions for others?

Thanks!

willicreate

@lpetiti Sounds like a fun class. I think your students would like to hear about these lawsuits:

Shepard Fairey's Obama Hope Illustration
Banksy's lawsuit with a greeting card firm using his art
Fine Artist Jeff Koons (too many lawsuits to name)
‘Star Trek,’ Dr. Seuss Mashup Dispute "Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!"
Andy Warhol’s use of photographer's image of Prince
Captain Marvel Lawsuit (National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.)
Website Mashable sued for embedding Instagram images without consent

Based on what I'm seeing on YouTube art channels, it may be worth talking to students about aritsts 'fixing' other people's artwork , being called out for tracing, using cosplayer photos for reference, art stolen for NFT profit, etc... Strange world we live in now

davidhohn

@lpetiti

Robert Cariou vs Richard Prince
This one irritates me greatly as Prince utilized a concept of Fair Use called "transformative use". This is a subjective call that I believe the judge in the case interpreted way too broadly.

Pixar vs Stanley Mouse

Art Rodgers vs Jeff Koons

Shepard Fairey v Associated Press
This one is interesting in that I think Fairey actually had a compelling "Transformative Use" claim but Fairey didn't understand Fair Use and instead perjured himself by falsifying evidence.

Beastie Boys vs Goldiblox
This is another one in which in my opinion Goldiblox should have won the case prevailed using the Fair Use Defense and the concepts of satire and transformative use.