On 18 May 2023, the US Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited decision in Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith et al (the Prince Decision). The Court's findings in the Prince Decision are likely to have far reaching effects on copyright law in the US, which may have a flow-on effects elsewhere in the context of generative AI and the proliferation of AI-generated content. In this post, we set out a summary of the case, the Court's findings, and the decision’s potential global impact.

In 1984, Lynn Goldsmith photographed the musician Prince in her studio, and granted a licence to Condé Nast for the one-time full page and one-time quarter page use of her photograph in Vanity Fair as an 'artist reference for an illustration'. This image was then used by Andy Warhol to create a purple silkscreen portrait for the magazine’s November cover, for which Goldsmith was given a photography credit.

Unbeknownst to Goldsmith, between 1984-1987, Warhol used this same photograph to create 15 additional images in varying colours, referred to as the 'Prince Series'. Between 1993 and 2004, the Andy Warhol Foundation (AWF) commercially exploited prints from the Prince Series, selling 12 of the works, transferring the remaining prints to the Andy Warhol Museum, and also licensing the images for merchandise.

Following Prince's death in 2016, AWF licensed the 'Orange Prince' to Condé Nast for approximately USD10,000. This image was published later that year on the cover of a Condé Nast magazine without any reference to Goldsmith. Goldsmith was indeed only made aware of the Prince Series when she first saw this new cover, which prompted her to contact AWF about her concerns. AWF then pre-emptively sued Goldsmith claiming 'fair use' of her original photograph. Goldsmith responded by countersuing for copyright infringement. Goldsmith lost at first instance, but then won an appeal of this decision. In a further appeal by AWF to the US Supreme Court, Goldsmith was vindicated. The Court held that AWF was not able to rely on the 'fair use' doctrine in relation to its use of Goldsmith's work.