Copyright Infringement Case Study: Richard Prince and New Portraits

This essay examines the Richard Prince copyright case, specifically focusing on his 'New Portraits' series and the controversy surrounding his use of Instagram images. The essay details the legal challenges Prince faced, including copyright infringement claims, and explores the concept of fair use within the context of art. It discusses the ethical implications of using others' images without permission, highlighting the impact on social media users' privacy and security. The author provides a personal perspective, emphasizing the importance of informing the image owners before utilizing their content. The essay concludes by reiterating the significance of copyright laws in safeguarding the rights of social media users and artists alike, and the need for ethical considerations in artistic practices. References include sources like Soutter (2015, 2018) and Gedo et al. (2016).

Running head: History
History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORY
Richard Prince is a painter as well as a photographer from the United States of
America. He is known for making paintings which he had later disowned. The paintings
which he drew are said to be some of the most controversial paintings since the fact got
proved that the painter used to copy the works which were drawn by other artists themselves.
Recently, Prince also had gotten involved in a copyright case involving the New Portraits
which he had made in the year 2015. The essay will talk about the copyright case which the
painter had faced in association with the New Portraits case in 2015.
The purpose of this essay is to describe the incident of Richard Prince regarding
the New Portraits as well as about him using the images from the Instagram of the
Instagram users.
The topic under the question, New Portraits by Richard Prince, consisted of the
artist’s use of the pictures of the Instagram account of the Instagram users. These photos,
which were mainly selfies consisted of mostly the semi-clad pictures of famous celebrities as
well as ordinary women who uses Instagram. The artist had the pictures printed with the help
of an inkjet printer and placed these pictures on his canvas with the addition of his comments
beneath each of the pictures themselves. Thus, the pictures were not liked by the some of the
audiences who had filed copyright infringement case against the painter and his use of the
images from the Instagram without informing the owners about their images being taken by
the painter (Soutter, 2015). While some of these cased are still pending judgement, the
painter had defended his actions by stating the fact that he had used the paintings under the
policy of the fair art, since the use of copyrighted material in a work of art is considered to be
a practice of fair art by the Ilaws of the U.S.A.
Whatever, might be the case, I feel that the painter Richard Prince should have asked
the owners of the image for the permission before using their image. I feel that the owners of

2HISTORY
the images now feel insecure to post their images on Instagram or other social media sites
because of the fact that someone else might be using their images again without asking them
for it (Gedo et. all, 2016). I for myself would have filed a copyright infringement case on the
painter if he would have used one of my paintings without informing me as I feel that despite
being considered a fair art, I deserve to be informed when my picture is taken for some
purpose (Soutter, 2018).
From the above statements, it can be concluded that using of pictures without
informing the desired person is not considered to be a very good thing to do. This is because
it makes the person insecure about using any forms of social media. It is because of this that
the copyright infringement law plays an important role in protecting the privacy of the users
of the social media.

3HISTORY
Reference List
Flood, Finbarr Barry. "From the Prophet to postmodernism? New world orders and the end of
Islamic art." In Making Art History, pp. 43-65. Routledge, 2014.
Gedo, John E. Portraits of the artist: Psychoanalysis of creativity and its vicissitudes.
Routledge, 2013.
Soutter, Lucy. Why art photography?. Routledge, 2018.