AP Demands Shepard Fairey to 'Obey'

Of all the photos of Barack Obama that can be found via Google, celebrated street artist Shepard Fairey used one from A.P.

As some of you may remember, Associated Press is ready to challenge anyone using more than 80 words from an AP story as an infringement on their copyright.

So it was bound to happen that when the photo of Obama, used by Fairey for the well known poster,  was discovered to have been shot by AP photographer Mannie Garcia, you-know-who would be knocking at the door.   Now AP wants Fairey to "obey."

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."

(That's 79 words, AP eyes)

Fairey's attorney is Anthony Falzone, the executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and lecturer at Stanford Law School. He believes that in the case of the Obama poster, fair use protects the artist's right

A complete rundown of images, and updates, used by Fairey is documented by photographer Tom Gralish at his blog  Scene on the Road. Gralish contacted AP's Mannie Garcia for a response:

Of the iconic poster (Garcia) he said, "I've been on the campaign for twenty something months, so I would see the artwork, I would photograph it, and think what is with this image? But it didn't snap. It never occurred to me it was my picture. I thought, 'that's familiar.' I would see it and say that's cool, but it did keep sticking in my head." He was quick to add he is not mad at Fairey, and he's not looking at any lawsuits. "I know artists like to look at things; they see things and they make stuff. It's a really cool piece of work. I wouldn't mind getting a signed litho or something from the artist to put up on my wall."

The compiled graphic is from Tom Gralish who writes "Mannie Garcia joins previously credited photographers David C. Turney (center) and Brooks Kraft (right), who provided the basis for two of Fairey's works later in the election year."

Comments

[NObey]

Did you see the Associated Press allegations against Fairey? Look like they are going after him. Just yesterday a search of Fairey's infringement brought up articles by Brian Sherwin for Myartspace Blog and Mark Vallen's infamous critique of Fairey and not much else. The AP story is on the front page of Yahoo! and I think it took a member of the mainstream press to be infringed to accomplish that which is kind of sad. Do check out the Myartspace Blog articles on Shepard Fairey and the Mark Vallen critique as well. Good reads.

[VFaL]

I featured the 2007 Vallen critique before, and met him a few times and we talked about it. BTW, The LATimes now has the AP story.

[New York Cases]

Its really not clear where the fair use argument will turn out when things are all said and done. After all, people can have their opinions back and forth all day long, but the four factors to test fair use are so subjective and slippery that only a judge can say what is right or wrong in the end.

For the sake of having a sane precedent, I think that the court should rule in favor of fair use, but the big factor that may not be on Fairey's side is the fourth "effect on market" factor which hurts so many artists.