The AP Has No Case Against Shepard Fairey

Jonathan Melber Co-author of ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career
February 8, 2009
Huffington Post

A few days ago, the Associated Press announced that Obama's famous HOPE poster amounts to copyright infringement. The artist behind the poster, Shepard Fairey, has never hidden the fact that he based his iconic creation on a photograph he found through Google. The AP thinks it owns the copyright to that photograph, since Mannie Garcia was freelancing for the AP when he shot it. With posters sold out, a special edition in the National Portrait Gallery, and major exhibitions in New York and Boston, the AP wants in on the windfall.


But the AP would very likely lose this case if it ever ended up in court. That's because, under copyright law, Fairey's work almost certainly qualifies as "fair use" of Garcia's photograph...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-melber/the-ap-hase-no-case-again_b_165068.html