No Fair Use Seen In Artworks About Sid Vicious

District Judge John A. Kronstadt determined: “[I]t is not apparent that Defendants' works add something new, have a further purpose or are of a different character due to a new expression, meaning, or message. The Photograph is a picture of Sid Vicious making a distinct facial expression. Defendants' works are of Sid Vicious making that same expression. Most of Defendants' works add certain new elements, but the overall effect of each is not transformative; Defendants' works remain at their core pictures of Sid Vicious.”

Stan Soocher is Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment Law & Finance and a tenured Associate Professor of Music & Entertainment Industry Studies at the University of Colorado's Denver Campus. He can be reached at [email protected] or via www.stansoocher.com.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California decided that artworks based on a photograph of the late, infamous Sex Pistols band member Sid Vicious weren't copyright fair uses. Morris v. Guetta, CV12-00684. Thierry Guetta creates artwork using altered photographs of celebrities. Photographer Dennis Morris filed a copyright infringement suit over several Guetta exhibited-and-sold artworks based on Morris's photo of Sid Vicious angling his head and winking. Guetta's artwork alterations included using higher black-and-white contrast and increased facial detail, as well as two that added a mole and different hairstyle to Vicious's appearance and one in which Vicious appears in sunglasses.