AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image by Shepard Fairey

[SemiCharmedQuark]

*snip*
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."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_en_ot/obama_poster

[Kittycat]

1. Fair Use. AP can bite it.

[Orrex]

2. 'President Obama was ordered to surrender his face to the AP immediately.'

[BrklynLiberal]

3. AP has gotta be kidding!!!!

[madrchsod]

4. obama told fairey that he liked what he did with his photo

and then gave him the rights to use the picture on two official obama campaign posters,stickers and buttons. so following the chain, ap should sue obama`s campaign for damages resulting on obama giving permission to use the ap photo to fairey. fairey`s posters,buttons,and stickers raised 800,000 dollars for obama.

i posted about fairey`s obama posters and other artists that helped obama along the way last week. if you run across this months issue of giant robot there`s a article about this and one about obama`s sister

[frylock]

5. did you buy any of shep's prints?

i bought two VOTE posters and a signed HOPE paster (from the 11/10 drop). :bounce:

i think my favorite though was Sam Flores' piece.

[Lex]

6. I have a signed print of Joey Ramone by Shepard Fairey

that I bought several years ago and a signed print of the Obama Change on by Fairey. I don't have the Obama one framed yet, and the Joey Ramone one has glass glare (a pic I took of it):






I wonder if there will be a lawsuit.