Marano v. Metropolitan Museum of Art concerns a claim of copyright infringement brought by a professional photographer, Lawrence Marano, against a nonprofit art museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("the Met"). In an online catalog that accompanied the Met’s 2019 exhibition “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll,” the Met, without permission from Marano, used Marano’s photo of Eddie Van Halen playing his guitar “Frankenstein.”  (The guitar had been included in the exhibition). The Southern District of New York applied § 107’s traditional four factor test and determined that the first, third, and fourth factors weighed in favor of finding fair use. Marano's claim was dismissed.

Marano appealed to the Second Circuit, which affirmed the district court’s finding that the Met’s display of Marano’s photo in its online exhibition constituted fair use. Focusing on the first factor of the traditional four-pronged test, the appellate court found that the Met’s use was transformative because it highlighted the guitar’s distinctiveness and historical importance, rather than Van Halen as a performer. Also, that Marano’s photo appeared in the context of other images and text that solely concentrated on the guitar and its musical influence was relevant in finding transformative use. The appellate court rejected Marano’s contention that the Met’s commercial aspects, namely the admission fee and entertainment value, cut against a finding of transformative use. Instead, the appellate court found that the Met’s cultural mission and non-profit status, coupled with a minimal entrance fee and a freely accessible website, demonstrates continuity with copyright’s constitutional purpose of promoting “the Progress of Science and useful Arts.”