AP Responds in Shepard Fairey Case

Popular artist Shepard Fairey recently filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press, looking to declare his use of an AP photo to create his iconic “Obama Hope” poster as “fair use.”

In its answer, the AP argues that Fairey was “drawn to the unique qualities of this particular photograph,” including the photographer’s deliberate selection of a specific moment in time to capture Obama’s expression, choice of lens and light, and the careful composition of the photograph.”

The AP criticizes Fairey’s artistic method, attacking him for misappropriating images in other works, such as Black Panther, Obey, and a silkscreen by the artist Rupert Garcia.

The AP accuses Fairey of having a “hypocritical approach to intellectual property rights,” having sent cease-and-desist letters upon alleged infringement of his “Obey” art, violating Google’s explicit user policies in the downloading of the photograph off of Google Images, and defrauding the U.S. Copyright Office in a copyright application. The AP demands statutory damages upon counterclaims of copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and violation of the DMCA. [Source: THR, Esq.]