Quote Originally Posted by Leewei View Post
So, what is the minimum, safe, lawsuit-proof distance at which someone can place another sculpture?

By allowing any lawsuit to proceed, a court is implicitly granting Charging Bull's copyright holder creative control over the surrounding landscape.
I think there's a surprisingly straightforward standard here. Can I move your statue? Like, can I move it ten feet to the right, or over behind the other statue, or into another room, and everyone is totally cool with that because it's a different statue? If so, then your statue is fine where it is. Or fine somewhere else. It could be moved a bit, or not moved at all, and it's all good because we have two discrete pieces of art. If I can't move the statue, then clearly it is part of the work of art in question, because a work of art cannot be linked at the hip to another and still be a totally distinct work of art.

Is it a perfect standard? No, we could easily imagine scenarios where a work modifies another by simple proximity. For example, we could put a big bear statue anywhere within 50-100 feet of the bull, and it would cement the bear/bull market interpretation even more than it's already cemented (not that that would change much of anything to anyone), regardless of specific positioning and orientation. But still, it's definitely a different work of art. I can move it next to the bull, or opposed to the bull, or back to back with the bull, or on the opposing sidewalk from the bull, or in really any position, and the bear artist would presumably be fine with it. I think any artist would have to be fine with that, legally speaking. At that point, we're not talking about appropriation, or changing art, but about simple curation. An exhibit called, "Statues that are also economic metaphors," in a museum would have the same impact.

I like the standard for at least one major reason. In particular, it's easier to apply than a lot of the less quantitative legal standards. This is nowhere near as bad as some of the crazy multi-pronged and generally subjective tests the legal system has to work through. Because you can ask. You can straight up say, "Hey, can we move your statue a little?" Or even, "Hey, I'm going to move my statue a little. Can you not move your statue also?" Because, of course, there could be other reasons a person doesn't want to move their statue.

Maybe it's not trivial to apply. But it's trivial here. I mean, just imagine someone rotating Charging Bull 90 degrees. No need for a third statue to modify Fearless Girl, the bull can stay where it is, and everyone's fine with it. And, if someone's not fine with it, particularly people in support of Fearless Girl, then we have our answer right there. If they move the girl to a new position in front of the bull, then the answer becomes incredibly clear cut.