"Artist" Loses Copyright Lawsuit - Ordered to Destroy Illegally Created Works

Found this snippet presented by Liz Masoner.

"£10million worth of art to be destroyed is what some are calling it. Photographers are celebrating a victory though. Richard Prince, a man who makes his living by appropriating the works of others and "altering" them, has lost a lawsuit brought by French photographer Patrick Cariou. Prince had copied 35 photos from Cariou's book, "Yes, Rasta," and altered them by doing things such as adding cut outs of guitars. To be perfectly honest, the result looked like a kindergarten art project gone wrong. According to a quote at the Daily Mail, Prince called Cariou's pictures "mere compilations of facts ... arranged with minimum creativity ... [and were] therefore not protectable."


This is far from an isolated incident in today's art world. People such as Prince and Shepard Fairey make a living by ripping off the works of photographers and republishing the slightly changed pieces.

Hopefully lawsuits such as this one will wake up the art world to the fact that it isn't just paintings and sculptures that are protected under law and worthy of respect.