Photographer Patrick Cariou sued artist Richard Prince for copyright infringement on the basis of Prince’s use, in works of collage art, of images of Rastafarians that Prince had found in Cariou’s book, Yes, Rasta. After Cariou moved for summary judgment, a Manhattan district court issued an order declaring the thirty paintings unlawful, and issued an injunction that led to the seizure and potential destruction of this art. We filed an amicus brief on behalf of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts urging the Second Circuit to reverse that decision. In our Amicus brief, we explained that the district court ignored established fair use principles and compounded these errors by issuing an injunction without weighing any of the free speech and expression interests at stake.
