By Daryl Lang, PDN Legal News
In an extraordinary admission Friday, artist Shepard Fairey said he submitted fabricated evidence after it became clear he had made a major mistake in his ongoing legal battle with the Associated Press and photographer Mannie Garcia.
"In an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images. I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment and I take full responsibility for my actions which were mine alone," Fairey wrote...
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Mike
(Thanks to Ken Tanaka)
Featured Comment by James Wellence: "It's pretty awful that he lied and he'll probably be charged with a crime, but you shouldn't let this action undermine the actual debate: copyright and fair use. The U.S. copyright office uses four factors to determine whether or not something is fair use:
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3.The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
My non-lawyer opinion says he failed the first and third tests, but passes the second and fourth. Which makes this a tough decision to settle."
Featured Comment by RP: "James Wellence makes a good point. Lying about the source photo was extremely stupid for many reasons, but mainly because he didn't need to. I am a lawyer, and Fairey has a very, very strong fair use argument, primarily because of the second and third factors. Copyright protects the original material that a creator contributes to the work; the less original the work, the less protection the work is afforded. Here, the photographer simply took a portrait of Obama. AP can't claim copyright in Obama's image or face, so the scope of their protection is limited—they can prevent others from using exact copies of the photos, but they can't claim ownership in the position of Obama's head or his expression. Of course, Fairey's dishonesty has thrown a monkey wrench into the whole analysis."
of the work we cited as among the best of 2007.
