Artists have been using derivative processes - such as satire and parody, or sampling and appropriation - for centuries. Some artists seem to be happy using these processes in their own practices, but as soon as their work is appropriated by others they get the lawyers out. Photoforum has an excellent article looking at two prominent American visual artists -- Richard Prince and Shepard Fairey -- who are currently engaged in lawsuits, of which the outcomes "will be significant both for the right of artists to appropriate or rework material, and for the right of artists to have some form of ownership or control over how their work is shown or used." Incidentally, both artists have built their practices by using derivative processes.

Amidst recent rumours that the NZ government is considering re-writing NZ's copyright law, artists need to bear in mind that the balance of copyright must go both ways.

Similar post re rightsholder hypocrisy here - http://bit.ly/1srC5p (@techdirt)