The Boundaries of Artistic Copyright

Artistic copyright is necessary to protect creators' rights; however, determining when one artist's work has inspired another versus when a second artist has copied another artist can be complex. While artists have always borrowed from other artists in many cases, there is a very fine line between paying homage to another artist and plagiarizing that artist's work. When borrowing ideas from one artist, the original artist must transform those ideas into something entirely new. However, if a second artist borrows the ideas from the first artist directly, that is, no transformation occurs, without crediting the original artist, this constitutes plagiarism. In recent years, a real-world example of this was the lawsuit filed by photographer Lynn Goldsmith against the estate of the late Andy Warhol regarding Warhol's use of a photograph of the late Prince taken by Goldsmith (Burch, 2024). The case of Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith presented issues concerning "fair use" and whether simply applying a different style or message to an image would render the image sufficiently original. Ultimately, the court determined that the way in which Warhol applied Goldsmith's image to his own artwork did not constitute fair use in this context. As such, the decision reinforced the need to protect the original creator.

The case emphasizes that plagiarism is an issue when the work is too familiar or the transformation in the new work is not significant enough. Artists have a right to be protected through copyrights, while the same right has to allow for creativity and open innovation. This balance may be highly important in a digital age when the content is easily reproduced and distributed. Malik and Shaikh (2024) underline that the copyright legislation requires more straightforward rules to correspond to the contemporary artistic practice and reproduction through digital means. Thus, the challenge will continue to be how to protect the rights of artists while encouraging creativity.

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Reference

Left: Lynn Goldsmith’s 1981 photograph of Prince, and, right, one of the 15 works Andy Warhol created in 1984, theartnewspaper.com/2022/10/05/supreme-court-briefs-andy-warhol-lynn-goldsmith-prince.

Andy Warhol’s “Soup Cans” series. Alas, Campbell’s discontinued Pepper Pot in 2010, https://copyrightlately.com/making-sense-of-copyright-fair-use-after-warhol/.