Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.

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Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.
by designation from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Case opinions
Majority	Newman, joined by Calabresi, Cudahy
Laws applied
Copyright Act of 1976

Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109 (2d Cir. 1998), is an influential Second Circuit fair use case.

Case background

Annie Leibovitz is a professional portrait photographer who had published a photograph of celebrity Demi Moore while Moore was seven months pregnant. The photograph, published on the front cover of Vanity Fair in August, 1991 with the title More Demi Moore, had achieved significant fame and notoriety on publication, and Paramount Pictures chose to parody it in 1993 as part of a promotional campaign for their new film at the time, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. Paramount's commissioned photograph featured Leslie Nielsen's face superimposed over the body of a pregnant woman, shot and digitally manipulated in such a way as to closely resemble Leibovitz' photograph of Demi Moore. Paramount ran the ad nationally, and Leibovitz sued for copyright infringement.

Proceedings and analysis

At trial, the Southern District of New York found the use to be fair.

On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed.

Examining the four fair use factors, the court found that although Paramount's photographer drew heavily from Leibovitz' composition, in light of Paramount's parodic purpose and absence of market harm the use of the photograph was a fair use. While Leibovitz had argued that she was entitled to licensing revenue from the photograph, the court found that parodies were likely to generate little or no licensing revenue.

The Court took particular note that, while the

" pose, while Nielsen's face bears a smirk, disrupting serious appreciation. The ultimate contrast is that of a healthy pregnant woman, compared with an older man's face superimposed onto a woman's body.

See also

• Buchwald v. Paramount
• Paramount Communications, Inc. v. QVC Network, Inc.
• United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.

Further reading

• Miatta Tenneh Dabo, "Recent Development: Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.: Fair Use Doctrine: When Is Copyright Infringement a Parody?", Univ. of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal v.7, p. 155 (Spring 1999).
• Matthew A. Eisenstein, "An Economic Analysis of the Fair Use Defense in Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corporation", University of Pennsylvania Law Review, v.148, no. 3 (Jan. 2000), pp. 889–930.
• Jonathan M. Fox, "The Fair Use Commercial Parody Defense and How to Improve It," Idea v.46 p. 619 (2006).
• Jeremy Kudon, "Note: Form Over Function: Expanding the Transformative Use Test for Fair Use," Boston University Law Review v.80, p. 579 (April 2000).
• Michael Lynch, "A Theory of Pure Buffoonery: Fair Use and Humor," Dayton Law Review v. 24, p. 1 (Fall 1998).

External links

• Text of Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109 (2d Cir. 1998) is available from: Google Scholar  Justia