Scheda riassuntiva
Autore della scheda: Andrea Grilli
Parole chiave: ancillary use, fair use, copyright, public domain
Descrizione: Nel 2002 l’artista Barbara Kruger ha modificato la foto Charlotte “As Seen By Thomas” scattata da Thomas Hoepker. Il fotografo e la modella ritratta hanno agito contro l’artista per violazione del copyright. Il giudice statunitense ha respinto le accuse affermando che la fotografia ormai era di pubblico dominio e vi era un fair use della stessa da parte dell’artista la cui attività è coperta dal Primo Emendamento della Costituzione Americana.
Categoria: Fotografia
Informazioni sull’artista
Artista: Thomas Hoepker
Nazione: Germania
Periodo attività: In corso
Note: Approfondimenti:
Informazioni sull’opera
Opera: Charlotte As Seen By Thomas
Data realizzazione: 1960
Tecnica: fotografia
Background: La foto “Charlotte As Seen By Thomas” è stata scattata da Thomas Hoepker nel 1960 e pubblicata sulla rivista tedesca Foto Prisma. La foto ritrae la modella Charlotte Dabney.
Informazioni sui contenziosi, attività giudiziaria
Autorità giudicante: U.S. District Court of New York
Sentenza: 200 F.Supp.2d 340 (S.D.N.Y. 2002)
Attore: Thomas Hoepker
Convenuto: Barbara Kruger
Massima: The Court found that the model’s right to privacy was not violated. To succeed on a right to privacy claim in New York, one must prove (1) the use of one’s name, portrait, picture, or voice; (2) for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade; (3) without consent; and (4) within the state of New York. The Court found that Kruger had used Hoepker’s picture without consent within the state of New York but had not done so for the purposes of trade. Rather, Kruger’s work, when displayed in books or in galleries, was pure artistic expression (not commercial speech), and the newsletters and souvenirs were permissible because they simply publicized to a wider audience Kruger’s permissible use of the collage, meaning that the newsletters and souvenirs constituted “ancillary use.” Similarly, with respect to the merchandise items, it was the broader dissemination of the artistic expression that primarily motivated the transaction, not the personality of the model for purposes of selling merchandise, as might have been the case if the merchandise had been marketed on a mass basis with a photograph of Marilyn Monroe, for example. Thus, the First Amendment shielded Kruger’s work from the right to privacy claim.
The Court dismissed the claim of copyright infringement. Due to the historical development of the Copyright Act and Hoepker’s status as a foreign artist, his work was in the public domain, or without copyright protection, during the time in which Kruger created her composite.
Link sentenza: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2422057/hoepker-v-kruger/