Rogers v. Koons
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
960 F.2d 301 (1992)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Art Rogers (plaintiff) took a photograph of a married couple holding puppies. Without obtaining Rogers’s permission, artist Jeff Koons (defendant) conceived the idea of a sculpture based on the photo. Koons’s purpose was to comment on the deterioration of aesthetic values in an era of commodification and mass production. Koons purchased a card bearing the photo, tore off the portion that contained Rogers’s copyright notice, and sent the card to artisans in Italy to do the physical work on the sculpture. Koons instructed the artisans to copy the original photo as closely as possible. The resulting sculpture, String of Puppies, attracted much attention in the art world, with three copies selling for $367,000. After Rogers became aware of the sculpture, he brought a copyright-infringement action in federal district court. The court found in favor of Rogers. Koons appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Cardamone, J.)
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