In the April 1992 case of Art Rogers v. Jeff Koons, Koons infringed copyright in his work String of Puppies which was a three dimensional color copy of a photographic original of Rogers' that he found on a postcard in a tourist shop. The sources I have researched question the boundaries of art and when it is and is not fair use, and in which ways the guidelines can really have a great effect in shaping this gray area. Koons is sometimes referred to as an appropriation artist: an artist who quotes elements from other works and creates a new version of the original. In the case I choose to focus on he does not alter the change enough, it is arguably an exact copy of the original with minor changes. I use a later case in Koons' career - Blanch v. Koons - as a source to highlight what is fair use, and the development of our understanding of it. In my final paper I would like to use this as a comparison. Identity and Koons' call to parody are also central to the fair use argument and thus I have chosen some sources that discuss these important aspects, as a means to both strengthen and weaken Koons' argument (that his work is based on parody).

This article discusses the identity an art object assumes, which is inherent to understanding a work of art.  When Koons sent Roger's photo to his studio he is quoted in writing saying, "must be just like photo", and initially in the court case, he does not try and defend that he was not seeking another identity.  What is central to the Rogers v. Koons case is that when the case emerged at the beginning of the '90s, one of the four String of Puppies was on show at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.  The director refused to take it down, and although they are not quoted, critic Jon Carroll said that the director  "declared that Koons is right and Rogers has no case. That's not freedom; that's arrogance." 

Understanding the prestige and power of the artist is pivotal to the notion of the identity of the work and the identity of the artist.  Fair use should apply to every artist equally.  There was justice for Roger's in this case.  However, all artists are in the same position, regardless of how famous they are, in determining what can further their artistic creation and what can hinder it.  In the case of Rogers and Koons, both are artists, and it is only fair that they face the same challenges.  Fair use seeks to transform the original, thus transforming the identity.  It is apparent that Koons does not achieve this change in String of Puppies.