Copyright Infringement Case: Millet Vs. Snowden Case

Copyright infringement case

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Introduction

Since time immemorial, there have been many copyright cases all over the world, with the likes of Millet versus Snowden case dominating the courts in the 1800s. Many describe it as a “global scourge”. Copyright cases have never been easy to handle, and they usually happen from time to time. As such, there has been a lot of wrangles over copyright between artists, of which most have ended up in court. According to Tehranian (2011), copyright infringement refers to the act of breaking some or all of a copyright creator’s select rights approved by the federal Copyright Act. Additionally, there are three major elements that must be present for a violation to occur and these include: the copyright owner is supposed to have an admissible copyright, it is necessary that the individual who is

In their hands, the couple held a line of eight puppies in a row, hence Rogers named the photo Puppies. Rogers sold the photograph to be used in greeting cards and other associated merchandise. Later on, in 1988, Jeff Koons, an international artist, came across a postcard with the described photograph, and decided to make an almost exact 3D-sculpture derived from the picture in order to express the theme of triteness in day to day things. The two artefacts were very similar, although the puppies in Koons’ statue were painted blue and their noses were a bit overstated. Additionally, some flowers were added in the hairs of the couple. To his advantage, Koon sold three similar statues named String of Puppies and made a fortune of almost $367,000. However, Rogers discovered that Koon made a copy of his photo in the sculptures, and in turn, charged him together with Sonnabend Gallery for copyright violation. The united states court titled the case as Rogers v. Koons (960 F.2d 301) (Laws.com,