September 2014

What’s fair in “Fair Use”? This month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided that alleged illegal use of a copyright protected photograph was in fact fair under 17 U.S.C. 107. (Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, No. 13-3004, 2014 WL 4494825 (7th Cir. Sept. 14, 2014)). More importantly, the court criticized the Second Circuit’s ruling in Cariou v. Prince, 714 F.3d 694 (2nd Cir. 2013) due to excessive credence given to the “transformativeness” of the use as a matter of law. Given the apparent split in the Circuits on how to interpret fair use and transformative quality of appropriating in light of the limiting copyright holders rights to creative derivative works, the legal and artistic community would appreciate some guidance from the Supreme Court, in due time. Details.

REMIX British Invasion continues with creators of Culture Label organizing a three-day summit to talk about culture, entrepreneurship and technology. Hosts for the program: Google, MoMA and Bloomberg. Intended audience: museum curators and administrators as well as computer engineers, marketing experts, investors and lawyers. Details.