Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Wins Van Halen Photo Copyright Claim

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibition of a photographer’s images of Eddie Van Halen constitutes fair use and so doesn’t violate copyright laws, a federal judge said.

The use of Neil Zlozower’s images in the “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll” exhibit “adds new meaning and is transformative,” Judge Christopher A. Boyko said in an opinion Monday dismissing the photographer’s suit. “This is true although the copying is nearly exact.”

Zlozower sued the museum in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in July, claiming copyright infringement in its use of ...