Appropriation art
Bill Patry has some notes from last weekend’s two-day symposium on appropriation art in NYC. Wished I could have been there, especially in light of Judge Leval’s comments:
At the same time, Judge Leval agreed that while fair use was invented by judges for judges (in order to promote learning and creativity), too many judges have been hostile to it. Judge Leval was particularly critical of the Supreme Court’s Sony decision (but not of the result). Rather than regarding all unconsented to uses as fair use, in order for fair use to have doctrinal coherence, it is preferable to instead to treat some uses as either not within the copyright owner’s rights or as de minimis.
If the UK ever does implement a looser version of fair dealing by incorporating a flexible American-style fair use test, I hope that they take into account comments like this.
