‘Sorry for Partying’ Shirt Gives 7th Cir. Platform to Critique Transformative Use

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s myopic focus on whether a new work has transformed an original work disconnects the fair use test from its statutory moorings, the Seventh Circuit said Sept. 15 (Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, 2014 BL 255143, 7th Cir., 13-3004, 9/15/14).

The court said it was “skeptical” of the fair use approach that its sister circuit took in a 2013 copyright infringement case, Cariou v. Prince, that was brought against an appropriation artist. The problem with focusing only on whether a work is transformative, the Seventh Circuit said, is that ...