Seventh Circuit Rejects Transformative Use Test for Copyright Fair Use | Practical Law
In Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment holding that the defendants' creation and distribution of an adaptation of the plaintiff's photo on shirts parodying the Madison, Wisconsin mayor's anti-block-party policy was a noninfringing fair use. While the Seventh Circuit affirmed the lower court's fair use holding, it expressly rejected the transformative use test on which this holding was largely based.