Andy Warhol’s estate loses its U.S. Supreme Court copyright fight with celebrity photographer Lynn Goldsmith

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Andy Warhol’s estate in a copyright battle with photographer Lynn Goldsmith. The justices found fault with Warhol’s use of Goldsmith’s photo of Prince in a series of silkscreen prints depicting the rock star. The 7-2 ruling, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, upheld a lower court’s decision that Warhol’s works based on Goldsmith’s photo were not protected from her copyright infringement lawsuit. However, the ruling specifically addressed the licensing of only one of Warhol’s Prince images and did not consider the entire silkscreen series a copyright violation.

The film, publishing, and recording industries welcomed the ruling, as it had implications for the legal doctrine of fair use, which allows the use of copyrighted works under certain circumstances without permission. Warhol, a leading figure in the pop art movement, created artworks based on photos of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Queen Elizabeth, Mao Zedong, and Muhammad Ali.

The case centered around Warhol’s “Orange Prince” series, which was commissioned by Vanity Fair magazine. The magazine gave credit to Goldsmith for the source photograph. Warhol created numerous silkscreens and illustrations based on Goldsmith’s photo, most of which were unauthorized. Goldsmith learned about the unauthorized works after Prince’s death in 2016 and countersued the Andy Warhol Foundation in 2017 when it sought a court ruling that the works did not infringe her copyright.

Goldsmith expressed her satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decision, considering it a victory for photographers and artists who make a living through licensing their art. The Court focused on the specific use of Warhol’s work in a license to Conde Nast and determined that it was not fair use because it served the same commercial purpose as Goldsmith’s photo—to depict Prince in a magazine. Justice Sotomayor distinguished this use from Warhol’s pop art, such as his famous prints of Campbell Soup cans, which comment on consumerism.

The Andy Warhol Foundation disagreed with the ruling but welcomed the fact that it only addressed the Conde Nast license and did not question the legality of Warhol’s creation of the Prince series.