Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Fairey Fires Back – Sues AP
Shepard Fairey was arraigned on public vandalism charges in Boston District Court, Monday, Feb. 9th. Image: Associated Press.
The Shepard Fairey media frenzy continues. Last Wednesday, the Associated Press issued a statement accusing Fairey of copyright infringement for appropriating one of their photos to create his famous Obama images. Then, on Friday evening, Fairey was arrested on two outstanding vandalism warrants, as he arrived to the opening night celebration of his museum survey at the Boston ICA.
While the AP has not officially filed suit against the artist, they have threatened legal action if not compensated and properly credited for the photograph in question, Now, Fairey is fighting back with his own lawsuit, filed in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court on Monday, Feb. 9th. The artist is aiming to clear his name through legal recognition that he did not violate any copyright laws and operated within the accepted confines of fair use by altering the original photo “for a highly transformative purpose…with new meaning, new expression and new messages.” Full transcript here
In response to Fairey’s filing, the AP issued yet another press release yesterday, stating:
“The Associated Press is disappointed by the surprise filing by Shepard Fairey and his company, and by Mr. Fairey’s failure to recognize the rights of photographers in their works. AP was in the middle of settlement discussions with Mr. Fairey’s attorney last week in order to resolve this amicably…At Mr. Fairey’s attorney’s request, we agreed AP would not pursue legal action while in these discussions. Despite an agreement to continue these discussions on Friday, Mr. Fairey’s attorney avoided contact, nor did he respond to an invitation to make contact over the weekend. Instead, he chose to file on Monday morning, without any notice to AP.
AP believes it is crucial to protect photographers, who are creators and artists.”
Clearly, Fairey’s lawsuit seems to be a preemtive strike against AP. Will the matter be settled amicably, or instigate AP to move forward with legal action of their own? Stay tuned….
More here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090209-717056.html?mod=
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aLD3ob_Bd1Oc&refer=muse
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100265442
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October 18th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
the art collectors » Shepard Fairey Exhibit Opens Amidst New Legal Controversy said:
[…] sued the non-profit news organization in February, after being accused of stealing one of their photos […]