Rock Hall Prevails in Fair Use Dispute Over Van Halen Photo

In a victory for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by veteran rock photographer Neil Zlozower. Zlozower had claimed the Hall illegally used his copyrighted photo of the late Eddie Van Halen in a museum exhibit.

However, Judge Christopher A. Boyko ruled on November 10, 2025 that the Hall's use of the black-and-white photo was a legal "fair use" of the image. The judge determined the Hall had "transformed" Zlozower's original photo, which was intended to "promote" Van Halen, into a "historical artifact" that helped illustrate the significance of the guitarist's instruments in the history of rock music.

While the Hall's display used a "nearly exact" copy of a portion of Zlozower's photo, the judge said this was done for a very different purpose than the original. The Rock Hall argued it had used the image as part of a broader effort to "educate the public about the history of rock and roll music."