New Wrinkle on Fair Use, Just Last Week

Posted by Daniel Turner on February 28th 2010 to Administrative

Army vet wins contest to sculpt the Korean War memorial now installed in Washington, D.C. Then a retired Marine takes a photo of it. The Post Office pays $1,500 for the rights to make a stamp from the photo. Note that the government contract with the sculptor kept the IP rights with him. The Court of Federal Claims ruled that the P.O.’s stamp fell under fair use, so there was no claim by the sculptor. But the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled just last week that the photo was not transformative (the lower court had already dismissed other claims, including that the memorial was architecture, and that the sculptor wasn’t the sole creator).

So, a blow against fair use? Or getting earned money to an old vet?

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