{"id":3824,"date":"2025-01-23T01:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T01:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/rock-roll-hall-of-fame-wants-van-halen-photo-lawsuit-thrown-out\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T01:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T01:36:18","slug":"rock-roll-hall-of-fame-wants-van-halen-photo-lawsuit-thrown-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/rock-roll-hall-of-fame-wants-van-halen-photo-lawsuit-thrown-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Wants Van Halen Photo Lawsuit Thrown Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThe Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wants a federal judge to toss out a copyright lawsuit over an image of Eddie Van Halen, arguing that it made legal fair use of the image by using it as part of a museum exhibit designed to \u201ceducate the public about the history of rock and roll music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit, filed last year, claims the Rock Hall never paid to license Neil Zlozower\u2019s image \u2014 a black-and-white photo of late-\u201970s Van Halen in the recording studio \u2014 before blowing it up into an eight-foot-tall display in the Cleveland museum.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in a motion to dismiss the case filed Tuesday (Jan. 21), the Rock Hall says it didn\u2019t need to. Attorneys for the museum say the offending exhibit was protected by \u201cfair use\u201d, a rule that allows copyrighted works to be reused legally in many contexts, including education and commentary.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRRHOF transformed plaintiff\u2019s original band photograph by using it as a historical artifact to underscore the importance of Eddie Van Halen\u2019s musical instruments,\u201d the Hall\u2019s attorneys write. \u201cRRHOF operates a museum, and it displayed the image in service of its charitable mission to educate the public about the history of rock and roll music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tZlozower filed his case in October, claiming the Hall made an \u201cexact copy of a critical portion of plaintiff\u2019s original image\u201d for the exhibit, which he claimed \u201cdid not include any photo credit or mentions as to the source of the image.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Rock Hall is just the latest company to face such a lawsuit from Zlozower, who also snapped images of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen over a decades-long career. Since 2016, court records show he\u2019s filed nearly 60 copyright cases against a range of defendants over images of Elvis Costello, Guns N\u2019 Roses, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce and more.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the current dispute, the Van Halen image was used in two exhibits: \u201cPlay It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll\u201d and \u201cLegends.\u201d Focused on musical instruments used by famed rockers, the exhibits featured sections showing Van Halen\u2019s guitars, amplifiers and other gear. In the display, the original photo of the band was cropped to show just Eddie holding one of the guitars, which was placed amid the exhibit\u2019s objects and informational placards.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their motion to dismiss the case, the Rock Hall\u2019s attorneys say the museum made a \u201ctransformative use\u201d of Zlozower\u2019s original image \u2014 a key question when courts decide fair use. They say the Hall used it not simply as an image of the band, but \u201cto contextualize Eddie Van Halen\u2019s instruments on display in the museum as historical artifacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRRHOF incorporated a portion of plaintiff\u2019s photograph displayed next to the exhibition object, as one piece of source material to document and represent the use of the guitar,\u201d the museum\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cThis proximal association between source material and exhibition object helps visitors connect information and delve more deeply into the exhibition objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn making that argument, the Hall\u2019s attorneys had a handy piece of legal precedent to cite: A 2021 ruling by a federal appeals court tossed out a copyright lawsuit against New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art over the use of another image of Van Halen in a different exhibit on the same famous set of guitars.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn making that ruling, the appeals court said the Met had clearly made \u201ctransformative\u201d fair use of the image by displaying it alongside the exhibit: \u201cWhereas [the photographer]\u2019s stated purpose in creating the photo was to show \u2018what Van Halen looks like in performance,\u2019 the Met exhibition highlights the unique design of the Frankenstein guitar and its significance in the development of rock n\u2019 roll instruments,\u201d the appeals court wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat earlier ruling is not technically binding on the case against the Rock Hall, which takes place in another region of the federal court system. But such an uncannily on-point ruling could certainly be influential on the judge overseeing the current case.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn attorney for Zlozower did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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