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."

This marks the latest legal defeat for Zlozower, who has filed nearly 60 copyright cases since 2016 over images of artists like Elvis Costello, Guns N' Roses, and Mötley Crüe. Neither side has commented on the judge's ruling as of November 11, 2025.