You know the one they’re talking about. The creepy Orwellian poster that spawned so many parodies and so much support amongst Obama’s cultists has also spawned a lawsuit. The Associated Press is notoriously strict about copyright and the poster, based on one of their pictures, is no exception.
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…
“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.”…
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.
Via Allahpundit, here’s the side-by-side comparison if you need it.
by Stephan Tawney on Wed, Feb 4, 2009