[daveart]

i guess copying is flattery only if you dont make a ton of money with it and become more famous than ever intended...

***

NEW YORK – On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.

Designed by Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist, the image has led to sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, has become so much in demand that copies signed by Fairey have been purchased for thousands of dollars on eBay.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

The AP says it owns the copyright, and wants credit and compensation. Fairey disagrees.

"The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission," the AP's director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement.

"AP safeguards its assets and looks at these events on a case-by-case basis. We have reached out to Mr. Fairey's attorney and are in discussions. We hope for an amicable solution."

"We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," says Fairey's attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School. "It wouldn't be appropriate to comment beyond that at this time because we are in discussions about this with the AP."

Fair use is a legal concept that allows exceptions to copyright law, based on, among other factors, how much of the original is used, what the new work is used for and how the original is affected by the new work.

A longtime rebel with a history of breaking rules, Fairey has said he found the photograph using Google Images. He released the image on his Web site shortly after he created it, in early 2008, and made thousands of posters for the street.

As it caught on, supporters began downloading the image and distributing it at campaign events, while blogs and other Internet sites picked it up. Fairey has said that he did not receive any of the money raised.

A former Obama campaign official said they were well aware of the image based on the picture taken by Garcia, a temporary hire no longer with the AP, but never licensed it or used it officially. The Obama official asked not to be identified because no one was authorized anymore to speak on behalf of the campaign.


**

its goes on .. but you get the idea....

[skelly]

about to post this...

[Michael Jacob]

this will be interesting. keep us updated. thank God for shep that most of the work was donated for charity.

[Grubster]

this guy never licensed or copyrighted the pic, therefor it was public domain. Now that it's bigger than ever this guy is chompin at the bit

[Michael Jacob]

im pretty sure that since it went through the AP it automatically gets copyrighted. Even without that, there is no dispute Shep used someone elses photo. You dont have to copyright something to make it yours. it just sets a concrete date of origination.
Im really anxious to see what happens.

[spraycan]

same story has happened to andy warhol some decades ago
for his FLOWER print he used a photo from third party
after using he had to pay a compensation for copyright violation

¡hasta luego!

[chrisj]

Share the wealth, He obviously got the idea from somewhere.

[bobbymeachamjr]

Loose associations with past art and/or contemporaries does not make one innocent. Fairey, if applying any semblance of artistic etiquette would have photo credits to a lot of the stuff he sells/markets. Seems he has taken advantage of loopholes since a lot of people do not copyright and/or follow through. Anybody in the design industry would say wtf! Googling an image, taking it and then marketing w/o credit, you've got to be kidding. I've been in the design industry for over a decade. This "transformation" thing is bs, you use you credit.

[Michael Jacob]

well said bobby.
the big problem for shep is if this does through. just imagine the ump'teen other people out there who know he used their images?

[otomi]

How many pictures of graffiti has AP taken and not credit the artist? they are just jumping on the bandwagon and want some publicity.

[cadeallaw]

Although I'm not an IP attorney, I find this lawsuit to be completely frivolous.

[robertlondon]

[mike hunt]

Seems to be based on the photo, but far from an exact likeness. I'm no lawyer, but for me its far enough removed from the original that its fine. In my opinion, AP can go fist themselves.

[bobbymeachamjr]

Feb 6, 2009 15:18:44 GMT 1 mike hunt said:

Seems to be based on the photo, but far from an exact likeness. I'm no lawyer, but for me its far enough removed from the original that its fine. In my opinion, AP can go fist themselves.

obviously, you have no clue about artists proprietary rights and/or etiquette...