Page:Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith.pdf/41

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Cite as: 598 U. S. ____ (2023)

35

Opinion of the Court

Here, the circumstances of AWF’s 2016 licensing outweigh its diminished claim to fairness in copying under the first factor. Like satire that does not target an original work, AWF’s asserted commentary “can stand on its own two feet and so requires justification for the very act of borrowing.” Id., at 581. Moreover, because AWF’s commercial use of Goldsmith’s photograph to illustrate a magazine about Prince is so similar to the photograph’s typical use, a particularly compelling justification is needed. Yet AWF offers no independent justification, let alone a compelling one, for copying the photograph, other than to convey a new meaning or message. As explained, that alone is not enough for the first factor to favor fair use.

Copying might have been helpful to convey a new meaning or message. It often is. But that does not suffice under the first factor. Nor does it distinguish AWF from a long list of would-be fair users: a musician who finds it helpful to sample another artist’s song to make his own, a playwright who finds it helpful to adapt a novel, or a filmmaker who would prefer to create a sequel or spinoff, to name just a few.^[1] As Judge Leval has explained, “[a] secondary author is not necessarily at liberty to make wholesale takings of the original author’s expression merely because of how well the original author’s expression would convey the secondary author’s different message.” Authors Guild, 804 F. 3d, at 215.

↑ The dissent oddly suggests that under the Court’s opinion, the first fair use factor favors such uses. See post, at 12, n. 5. This ignores, well, pretty much the entire opinion. See supra, at 14–17, 22–24, 26–27, 28–29, 32–33 (degree of difference in purpose and character); supra, at 18, 24 (commercial nature); supra, at 17–19, 27, 30, 34–35 (justification). In particular, the Court does not hold that the first factor favors any user who “wants to reach different buyers, in different markets, consuming different products.” Post, at 13, n. 5 (opinion of Kagan, J.). The dissent apparently deduces this proposition from its inverse, which is a common logical fallacy.

[1] The dissent oddly suggests that under the Court’s opinion, the first fair use factor favors such uses. See post, at 12, n. 5. This ignores, well, pretty much the entire opinion. See supra, at 14–17, 22–24, 26–27, 28–29, 32–33 (degree of difference in purpose and character); supra, at 18, 24 (commercial nature); supra, at 17–19, 27, 30, 34–35 (justification). In particular, the Court does not hold that the first factor favors any user who “wants to reach different buyers, in different markets, consuming different products.” Post, at 13, n. 5 (opinion of Kagan, J.). The dissent apparently deduces this proposition from its inverse, which is a common logical fallacy.

[1]