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28  ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS, INC. 

v. GOLDSMITH 
KAGAN, J., dissenting 

to “target” or otherwise comment on the originals.  “Thomas 
Mann, himself a master of [the art,] called [it] ‘higher crib-
bing.’ ”    Lethem  59.  The  point  here  is  that  most  writers
worth their salt steal other writers’ moves—and put them 
to  other,  often  better  uses.  But  the  majority  would  say, 
again and yet again in the face of such transformative cop-
ying, “no factor 1 help and surely no fair use.”

Or how about music?  Positively rife with copying of all 
kinds.  Suppose some early blues artist (W. C. Handy, per-
haps?)  had  copyrighted  the  12-bar,  three-chord  form—the
essential foundation (much as Goldsmith’s photo is to War-
hol’s silkscreen) of many blues songs.  Under the majority’s
view,  Handy  could  then  have  controlled—meaning,  cur-
tailed—the development of the genre.  And also of a fair bit 
of rock and roll.  “Just another rendition of 12-bar blues for 
sale  in  record  stores,”  the  majority  would  say  to  Chuck 
Berry  (Johnny  B.  Goode),  Bill  Haley  (Rock  Around  the 
Clock), Jimi Hendrix (Red House), or Eric Clapton (Cross-
roads).  Or to switch genres, imagine a pioneering classical
composer  (Haydn?)  had  copyrighted  the  three-section  so-
nata form.  “One more piece built on the same old structure,
for use in concert halls,” the majority might say to Mozart
and  Beethoven  and  countless  others:  “Sure,  some  new 
notes, but the backbone of your compositions is identical.” 

And  then,  there’s  the  appropriation  of  those  notes,  and 
accompanying  words,  for  use  in  new  and  different  ways. 
Stravinsky reportedly said that great composers do not im-
itate, but instead steal.  See P. Yates, Twentieth Century 
Music 41 (1967).  At any rate, he would have known.  He 
took  music  from  all  over—from  Russian  folk  melodies  to 
Schoenberg—and made it inimitably his own.  And then— 
as these things go—his music became a source for others.
Charlie Parker turned The Rite of Spring into something of 
a jazz standard: You can still hear the Stravinsky lurking, 
but jazz musicians make the composition a thing of a differ-
ent  kind.  And  popular  music?    I  won’t  point  fingers,  but