Photo: WENN.com
Green Day have won the lawsuit brought against them by artist Dereck Seltzer after they used his work 'Scream Icon' in a video backdrop during their 2009 tour.
The band reproduced the street art image found on LA's Sunset Boulevard and added a spray-painted red religious cross over it, showing it during performances of their track 'East Jesus Nowhere'.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled that the band were not liable for its use in their show and didn't violate Seltzer's rights as an artist.
They stated that the use of the image was "transformative and not overly commercial", while Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scanlain wrote that the video backdrop conveyed: "...new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings that are plainly distinct from those of the original piece."
Neither Green Day nor Seltzer have released a statement about the case.
Watch: Green Day perform East Jesus Nowhere at Madison Square Gardens in 2009
Green Day are set to perform at Reading and Leeds festivals later this month, and shortly after will release their documentary film ¡Cuatro! on 26 August. The behind-the-scenes feature follows the band as they made their trilogy of albums; ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre!.
Below: Green Day live at London's Emirates Stadium, 2013
