Investigating the “Fair Use” in Contemporary Art in the Cases of Jeff Koons and Richard Prince

This article explores how copyright-based genres in contemporary art conform to intellectual property law. By examining the “appropriation” cases and the criteria of the doctrine of fair-use in them, the limits and borders of legal and creative copying (reduplication?) are determined. This study’s main question is how fair-use as a legal solution helps artists to be more creative? The research hypothesizes that fair-use is the mediating solution of law and art to balance copyright laws strictness. The cases of Jeff Koons and Richard Prince, as examples of influential figures in the history of art and law, have been selected, and the criteria for their fair-use will be analyzed. The Research Method is a doctrinal research method in which the evolution of copyright laws following contemporary art characteristics is expressed through court decrees and reviewing cases. The present analysis results show that fair-use, by considering parody and Transformative use, defends the expression and appearance of the artist’s creativity. Further, the study of court’s performance through doctrinal research method shows that the emergence of creativity is a common goal of intellectual property law and contemporary art.