By Brittni Smallwood
© 2009 The Associated Press
(Photo: Damian Dovarganes)
A street artist Shepard Fairey and the Associated Press are in a debate about whether Fairy is guilty of copyright infringement. According to an article by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the AP says they own the copyright, and that they want credit and compensation for the photograph of Barack Obama.
Shepard Fairey is defending his art, saying that his actions were plausible because of the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law. The law states that under certain circumstances an individual is allowed to have limited use of copyright material without the copyright holder’s permission. Fairy admits that his red, white and blue “hope” image of Barack Obama was based on an image from an Associated Press photojournalist, Mannie Garcia.
Columbia University law professor Jane Ginsburg told the Associated Press that this situation makes her uneasy. The notion that someone can take anyone’s photograph and just use it, she says is pretty radical.
Shepard Fairey’s attorney defends him by saying the artist did not violate any rights or rules by creating a painting based on the photograph of Mannie Garcia. In her opinion Fairey used the painting for political use and not commercial.
• Is Shepard Fairey’s painting legal under the fair use test? Especially because Fairey says that his painting was used for political use and not commercial, even though Shepard Fairey received thousands of dollars for ebay purchases of these paintings with his signature on it.
• Even though Fairy made money off of the painting, if he created his image for the purpose of “serving the public interest by stimulating creativity as copyright law intended (Hopkins, 137)” then is his secondary use legal and of just cause?
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