If you’ve paid attention to the news lately, you’ve inevitably heard that Shepard Fairey… the creator of the iconic Obama “Hope” image is in the midst of a lawsuit with the Associated Press over his source image. Fairey is claiming fair use while the AP is claiming damages for using an uncited photo. Personally, I side with the fair use argument but believe that derivative work, including all future reproductions of “Hope”, should include a citation to the original artist’s work unless other explicit permission has been granted.
In this case, however, I’ve stumbled across some very interesting information about Shepard Fairey. Much of the media I’ve followed (including an exposé by NPR) has painted Fairey as a champion of fair-use and open-license. He’s explicitly stated that work in the open domain should be available for derivation. Sadly, he has a strong history of hypocrisy with respect to copyright protection & artist rights.
Shepard Fairey created the following derivative work (right) based on a photograph (left) by Manny Garcia. Garcia and the AP are now seeking damages from Fairey for not citing his source or paying licensing fees.
However, in 2008, Baxter Orr created the following derivative work (right) based on Shepard Fairey’s original image (left). Fairy ordered a cease and desist, threatened to sue, and called Orr a “parasite”.
Mr. Fairey… you are not a heric icon of the fair use movement, you are nothing more than a commercialist hypocrite who is narcisistic enough to believe that you are above copyright law and basic artistic manners.
Source: Boston Globe, Wikipedia, & Consumerist
