AIA’s Brian Boucher reports on the amicus brief the Warhol and Rauschenberg foundations want to file in the appeal of Cariou v. Prince, the case concerning a photographer’s work that was used by Richard Prince to make paintings:

“The notion that context informs meaning isn’t a radical one, and certainly not to people in the art world,” New York attorney Virginia Rutledge, counsel for the Warhol Foundation, who co-authored the brief, told A.i.A. by phone. “And from a copyright perspective, that notion is perfectly compatible with the concept of transformative fair use. What may seem novel here is the assertion that the visual alone is an inadequate measure of new meaning, and thus whether an infringement has taken place.”

Signatories to a supporting letter include museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dia Art Foundation, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

“I think the museums correctly see this case as putting at risk all appropriation art and they want to undo the damage,” New York art lawyer Donn Zaretsky told A.i.A. by e-mail.

Warhol and Rauschenberg Foundations Ask to Weigh in on Cariou v. Prince (Art In America)