A Alleges Copyright Infringement of Obama Image

AP ^ | Feb. 4, 2009 | AP

[Netizen]

AP suing Shepard Fairey over altered image. See article.

[Netizen]

Thought this might be of interest since a lot of us alter images.

[ConservativeMind]

No, because Mr. Fairy sold it.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Shepard Fairey will never work again.

[The_Victor]

Two quotes to pinpoint the issue here:

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.

"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."

Translation: "We just want our cut of the $."

[cripplecreek]

I like this one better than both the originals I used.

[Tarpon]

[Ingtar]

Ahh - I always took that poster as a mock communist poster. It certainly follows the style of the Soviet propaganda posters.

[Netizen]

I had been wondering when a case like this would come up. It will be interesting to see what transpires.

[Netizen]

Translation: "We just want our cut of the $."

My thoughts exactly.

[PapaBear3625]

This is why AP was so upset when Obama didn’t allow AP photogs into the Oval Office at one point, and instead released pics taken by a White House staff photographer (which, of course, would be in public domain).

[Netizen]

Maybe the AP should talk to to Obama about restitution.

From the article:

Fairey also used the AP photograph for an image designed specially for the Obama inaugural committee, which charged anywhere from $100 for a poster to $500 for a poster signed by the artist.

[freekitty]

Yep, $$s talk.

[Syncro]

This is why AP was so upset when Obama didn’t allow AP photogs into the Oval Office at one point, and instead released pics taken by a White House staff photographer (which, of course, would be in public domain).

Wow that didn't take long.

Present Obama did something right!

Ouch, it hurts to say that...

But giving the finger to the AP instead of prominate republicans is a move in the right direction.

[Syncro]

They are going to be busy.

Where to start with fair use when a parody is parodied and then is made a parody of etc?

[paulycy]

For the moment, satire is still fair use. But maybe not for long...

[BerryDingle]

[Cyberrat]

[Tarpon]

Say what ...

[Richard Kimball]

I both do Photoshop goofs and run a photography business. I kinda have to come down with AP on this one.

Obama doesn't have a dog in the hunt. As President, he's public domain. However, AP routinely copyrights all their images. If Fairey had taken his own picture of Obama, or gotten rights to use Obama's image from AP, the issue is settled. However, a specific photographer took a specific picture of Obama and this work was used as a basis for Fairey's work. He also made a lot of money off of it. The fact is the AP photographer had as much to do with the success of the image as Fairey did, since Fairey's contribution could be recreated in Photoshop in twenty or thirty minutes.

Probably Fairey had never been big enough to attract anyone's attention before, but he is now. Fair use goes out the window when you begin selling the product for mass reproduction.

[Nateman]