Despite a circuit split, the Supreme Court has once again passed on an opportunity to address the question of the appropriate framework for assessing the statutory factors used to evaluate "fair use" of a copyrighted work. On March 23, the Court denied a petition to review Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation, LLC, a Seventh Circuit decision holding that the adaption of a photograph of a political figure for a satirical t-shirt was fair use. Although the Court has touched on the fair use doctrine over the years in other contexts, it has not squarely addressed the standard for determining whether an unauthorized use is fair since its 1994 decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
Originally published by Law360, April 30, 2015
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