Ansel Adams and the First Sale Doctrine

Eric Goldman (http://blog.ericgoldman.org), whom I respect a great deal, suggested I consider whether the "first sale" doctrine would apply to Ansel Adams’ alleged long lost negatives dispute. (See post of 8/27/2010 -- http://www.jonathanpinkesq.com/ansel-adams-or-not-the-story-of-a-trademark-dispute.) I now have, and don't believe it does.

While trademark law prohibits some uses of another's trademark, that prohibition is not unlimited. Under the first sale doctrine, when a trademarked product lawfully enters the stream of commerce, typically there is no right to claim infringement against a lawful reseller of the product if the mark is used to identify the goods. See Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc. v. Surgical Technologies, Inc., 285 F.3d 848 (9th Cir. 2002). This is similar to the fair use concept mentioned in my previous, related post, but not identical.

Here, if the photo negatives Rick Norsigian bought truly were the work of Ansel Adams, there is an argument that the Ansel Adams Trust could not prohibit him from selling prints made from those negatives while using the Adams trademark (assuming he uses the mark for purposes of advertising and identifying the goods he's peddling).

The problem is that, from the Trust's perspective, the goods aren't Adams' even if the prints were made from his negatives. The Trust claims Ansel worked his magic in the darkroom (haven't we all?), and that his finished images consisted of more than merely the image photographed, its composition, captured moment, etc.. According to the Trust (and many casual viewers of AA’s work), the art comes equally from how Mr. Adams’ developed those images, selected the tones of lights and darks, etc.. Accordingly to the Trust, without that component, the “work” (e.g. any print made from the found negatives) simply is not the work of Ansel Adams, even if the negatives were created by him. To this end, the Trust will likely argue that the first sale rule does not apply, and Norsigian is not entitled to use the Adams' mark pursuant to that doctrine.

The Trust's argument should carry some punch. While the first sale rule may immunize a traditional reseller from infringement liability, it loses its effect where the goods have been altered, or are materially different from those created by the trademark owner. See Storz, supra, 285 F.3d 848. Also, I am not sure the negatives ever lawfully came onto the market when Norsigian bought them at that garage sale 10 years ago. You will recall that Norsigian claims the glass photographic plates were saved from a fire at AA's studio 70 years ago, but even if this is so, did the garage sale seller gain legal right to their possession, and the concomitant right to resell them? I don't know. In any event, given the foregoing, I suspect Norsigian won't find much safety in the first sale "port" from this legal storm.

On a related, but totally non-legal note: I had a funny and similar experience this weekend. While visiting some friends who were in town at a beach house that had been in their family since the 1930s (which is mostly used as a rental when the family/cousins, etc. aren’t there in the summers), I noticed an oil painting on the wall that was rather nice. Now this place is your typical rental, with mostly your typical rental artwork (stained and tattered reproductions that you’d mostly overlook). But this work was an original oil, and quite nice. My friend said he’d never paid much attention to it; it had been hanging there his entire life, and he assumed that it had been placed there by his grandfather in the 1930s.
As I was taking a close look at it (my mom’s an art dealer, and somehow this is how I learned to closely examine art – plus, my vision is abysmal), I asked “Who did it?”
My friend, now at least a little curious – or very polite – looked for the signature and said “Edgar . . . .” I interjected: “Don’t say Payne.”
“Payne,” he said.
I couldn’t believe it. An Edgar Payne? I told him a little about the artist and suggested that the painting had to be worth at least $45K. “No!” He couldn’t believe it. I told him I was guessing, but suggested we call my mom to see what she thought.

I phoned. She was cooking dinner. I described the work. She asked if was a landscape, I told her no, it had boats, and looked like Newport Harbor. “Oh, it’s one of his seascapes!” Now she is a longtime L.A. art dealer, and has sold Payne’s work to some very well off collectors. I told her the size, a few more details, and said I had guessed its value at at least $45,000. No, she said, “It’s worth at least $150,000.”

My friends were amazed. I felt like we were living an episode of The Antique Road Show. Now they need to get that thing out of the rental! So, just to make a point, . . . these things do happen.


Jonathan Pink is an intellectual property attorney at Bryan Cave, LLP. He is also a member of the firm’s Art Law Team. He can be reached at 949-223-7173, or at jonathan.pink@bryancave.com