In a case that could help clarify when and how artists can make use of the work of others, the US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a copyright dispute between a photographer and Andy Warhol's estate over Warhol's 1984 paintings of rock star Prince.
The justices took up the Andy Warhol Foundation's appeal of a lower court ruling that his paintings - based on a photo of Prince that photographer Lynn Goldsmith had shot for Newsweek magazine in 1981 - were not protected by the copyright law doctrine called fair use. This doctrine permits unlicensed use of copyright-protected works under certain circumstances.
