Re: Leaf Art

>I heard a story on NPR this morning regarding an
>artist who transposes photographic negatives onto
>leaves using the sun and the leaf's natural processes.

>So, this got me thinking about the case about
>tiles in New Mexico, and its counterpart in another
>circuit whose facts escape me, and the fact that what
>he is doing may be considered copyright infringment in
>certain parts of our fair country.

The cases you mention -- Mirage Editions, Inc. v. Albuquerque A.R.T. Co., 856 F.2d 1341 (9th Cir. 1988) and Lee v. Deck the Walls, Inc., 925 F.Supp. 576 (N.D. Ill. 1996) -- are not exactly on point. In the Mirage case, pages from a Patrick Nagel book were mounted in frames and sold separately. In Lee, notecards were mounted on tiles. In those cases, copies were not made of the works. What was at issue was whether the First Sale doctrine protected the uses; or alternatively, whether isolating and mounting images amounted to creation of derivative works. In the case of artist Binh Danh's leaves, copies are being made -- that is, works are being reproduced in a different medium. I can't say with any certainty how Binh Danh would do under a fair use analysis but his artwork is clearly more transformative than either of the two previously cited cases.
Rich Stim
Nolo.com   Received on Thu Jun 26 2003 - 00:18:34 GMT