6. Copyright and fair use

 

Copyright and fair use 

    The Copyright Alliance defines fair use as that it "permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner's permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research." However, there is not set rules in determining fair use, it is more of a case-by-case basis, copyright law helps to establish four factors in deciding whether fair use pertains to the situation or not. The four factors according to Copyright Alliance are: 

• The purpose of the use and whether it was used for a commercial purpose or for non-profit educational purposes. 
• "The nature of the copyrighted work" 
• The amount of the copyrighted work used. 
• The effect of how the copyrighted work was used. 

    Copyright applies to everything even in art. One case in particular involved the artist, Andy Warhol. The Andy Warhol Foundation was sued by Lynn Goldsmith after the foundation released copies images in the "Prince Series" to be used in a magazine to commemorate Prince. This story began when Goldsmith was commissioned by Newsweek in 1981 to photograph Prince, who at the time was an upcoming artist. Later on Goldsmith gave Vanity Fair Vanity Fair a limited license to use one of her photos as an "artist reference for an illustration." In the terms of the limited license, it stated that the image would be for a "one time" use only. Andy Warhol was hired by Vanity Fair to create a purple silkscreen portrait of Prince based off Goldsmith's photo. The illustration was released in the November 1984 issue of Vanity Fair. After Prince died in 2016 Conde Nast, Vanity Fairs parent company, reached out to the Andy Warhol Foundation about reusing the image in a special edition magazine that would commemorate Prince. Conde Nast then learned about the other images that were in the "Prince Series". These other images where in different colors one being orange. Conde Nast decides to purchase a license from the foundation to publish "Orange Prince". Goldsmith had no knowledge of the other images in the "Prince Series" until she saw "Orange Prince" on the cover of the magazine. 

    The legal battle began when Goldsmith told the Andy Warhol Foundation about her belief that the foundation had infringed her copyright. The foundation then sued Goldsmith for "a declaratory judgment of noninfringement" also known as fair use. Goldsmith then counterclaimed for infringement. At first the court ruled in the foundations favor and then the Court of Appeals reversed it stating that "all four fair use factors favored Goldsmith." The court argued whether or not the first factor concerning "the purpose and character" was in favor or against the foundation. Ultimately it was determined that the Andy Warhol Foundation's use of "Orange Prince" for the cover of Conde Nast magazine "served the same commercial purpose as Goldsmith's original" and that the first factor goes against the foundation. 

     Copyright laws can be applied to almost everything, even in areas that you may not consider. Copyright laws can even be used to protect original work on TikTok... yes even TikTok. TikToks Terms of Service prohibit the use of posting content that does not comply with another party's copyrights. If you are caught using copyrighted music or videos you are at risk of having your content being removed and your account may even be suspended or terminated. In March of 2024 a TikTok creator Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt, also known as Trefuego, was found guilty of infringing on Sony Music copyrights. In 2022 Trefuego made an over $800,000 mistake when he posted his track "90mh". In the track he used elements of Japanese composer Toshifumi Hinata song "Reflections" which was released in 1986. According to the suit "Trefuego... simply stole hinata's musical composition and sound recording, using them without asking and without permission, all in flagrant violation of the United States Copyright Laws." The track was claimed to have been used in over 155,000 TikTok Videos and streamed over 100 million times on Spotify. Thus, leading to the ruling against Trefuego and his repayment of the profits the track earned from streaming on Spotify and Sony's licensing fees. 

    In conclusion, copyright laws can be found everywhere even in the arts, on social media, music, and so much more. It is important to know if you could be jeopardy of the being accused of infringing on copyright laws. It is also equally important to know your rights protected by fair use laws.