After Andy Warhol?

Abstract

This essay describes an NFT collection titled "After Andy Warhol?" It consists of NFTs of the 16 paintings in Andy Warhol's "Prince Series" (1984) which were based on a photograph of Prince created by Lynn Goldsmith in 1981. The paintings are the subject of copyright litigation currently under review by the United States Supreme Court. In this essay, I explain why I believe that the paintings are not currently protected by copyright and that my use of them is a fair use of Goldsmith's photograph. The essay also includes as an appendix my "Cento on Plagiarism" in the form of an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, which consists entirely of sentences plagiarized from other sources.

Keywords: copyright, NFTs, Prince, Warhol, fair use, web3, blockchain, trolling