The Legal Art of Judging Art

Abstract

In another round of the case „Metall auf Metall“, the German Federal Court of Justice is asking the Court of Justice of the European Union how to define the concept of pastiche. The CJEU response will not only be crucial for the rules of artistic imitation, but also set the legal frame for the digital reference culture of millions, as expressed in Memes and GIFs every day. This Article takes the referral to the CJEU as an opportunity to recapitulate the proceedings with a sideways glance at the Supreme Court’s Warhol case. Its discussion of transformative use addresses the questions the CJEU will have to answer when defining “pastiche”. How should we deal with the art of imitation?

Keywords

• art law, Copyright, imitation, Intellectual Property