Artnet writer, Charlie Finch, takes us through the court case involving Richard Prince and his supposed copyright infringements. Charlie and artnet editor, Walter Robinson, do a great job covering this story with their own personal take on the ramifications. BTW, happy 15th anniversary artnet!
All I can say is that there are hundreds, if not thousands of artists, including big names like John Baldessari and Andy Warhol, that would be in violation of this particular judge's ruling as if taken at face value. Of course each case is different and there has to be a line drawn somewhere. It is interesting that the power of our words are taken so seriously by the courts. According to the judge's opinion, if Prince would have appropriated the work to comment on that same work then he would have been within his legal rights. But Prince used the wrong words to describe his intent and that went against him in a big way.
The image above is one of Mr. Prince's that uses source material from the plaintiff, photographer Patrick Cariou.
