Warhol Case Hits High Court as Patent Fights Wait on Sideline

As the US Supreme Court readies itself to hear a fight over Andy Warhol art in the first non-software copyright fair use case in decades, intellectual property practitioners wonder if the court will end a dry spell for patent cases.

Lynn Goldsmith hopes to preserve an appeals court ruling that Vanity Fair’s use of an Andy Warhol print infringed her photo of Prince. The case tests the boundary at which a new work transforms an old work enough to constitute fair use rather than stepping on derivative rights, and attorneys expect it to have major implications for copyright law in ...