## Facts

- Jean-Michel Basquiat died in 1988; his estate, administered by Gerard Basquiat, held copyrights in Basquiat’s artworks.
- Vrej Baghoomian, a New York gallery owner, organized a 1989 exhibition and produced an accompanying book/catalog.
- The catalog reproduced photographs of 69 registered Basquiat paintings and prints.
- About 4,000 copies were printed; sales were approximately $59,000 against production costs of about $116,000.
- Baghoomian did not obtain permission from the estate and paid no license fee or royalty.
- The estate asserted it had contemplated publishing its own Basquiat book and abandoned those plans after Baghoomian’s catalog was released.

## Issues

1. Whether the unauthorized reproduction and sale of a commercial exhibition catalog containing complete images of copyrighted artworks qualified as fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
2. Whether, upon a finding of infringement, the estate was entitled to permanent injunctive relief restricting further distribution of the catalog.

## Decision

- The court granted the estate’s motion for partial summary judgment on liability for infringement as to the 69 registered works.
- The court rejected Baghoomian’s fair-use defense.
- The court granted permanent injunctive relief, noting that such relief is an extraordinary remedy but finding it warranted on the record presented.

## Legal Principles

- Unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works establishes infringement where ownership and copying are undisputed.
- Fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 turns on the four statutory factors, including whether the use is commercial and non-transformative, whether the underlying works are highly creative, whether entire works are copied, and whether the use harms actual or potential licensing and publication markets.
- Copying complete fine-art images for a commercial catalog, without meaningful commentary or criticism, weighs strongly against fair use.
- A permanent injunction in copyright is discretionary and treated as an extraordinary remedy, but may issue where ongoing or future distribution would impair the copyright owner’s control over reproduction and related markets.

## Conclusion

The court held that a gallery’s unlicensed exhibition catalog reproducing complete images of numerous fine-art works was not fair use, entered partial summary judgment for the estate on infringement liability, and issued a permanent injunction to prevent further unauthorized exploitation of the works in the catalog form.


Basquiat v. Baghoomian, 1992 Copyright L. Dec. (CCH) ¶ 26,824 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)