Gossip Cop is a website that reports on celebrity gossip and opines on the veracity of celebrity news stories published by others. Along with stories critiquing the news reports, Gossip Cop also copied several photographs that illustrated those stories. When sued by the photo licensing agency, Gossip Cop responded with the all too familiar refrain of “but it’s a transformative use”! Not so fast, says the Court. What happened? Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., explains the Court’s reasoning and finds that maybe there are cracks in the walls of the “transformative use” defense.
