Oct 19 2009
@EFF via Twitter: Shepard Fairey admits lying in fair use case — Prof. Bruce Boyden weighs in
I thought I would post this as we move into working on our projects. It is a good example of why you want to provide attribution, even in an educational setting, and why you must be very careful if you choose to use copyrighted material in your work if you ever plan to publish it. The battle over fair-use is never ending.
Fairey’s actions are truly unfortunate. The cover-up of source documents is especially confusing since many legal scholars agreed with proponents of the Fair Use doctrine of copyright law in this case: Fairey’s use of the AP Obama photo would seem to be completely Fair Use, a transformative use of another’s creation for the purpose of commentary. I have to agree with Bruce E. Boyden that “the chances we’ll get a clean holding on fair use, copyrightability, or substantial similarity seem thin.”
Other posts in this series:
- Why did Fairey file in the Southern District of New York?
- Does AP actually own the copyright in the Garcia photo?
- Is Fairey’s suit doomed to fail before it even gets off the ground?
- What’s the “original” photo?
- What does the complaint say about the poster creation process?
- The AP strikes back
- What’s a “visual reference”?
- Mannie Garcia joins the suit
- Fairey’s spoliation bombshell—This post
Other Articles/Organizations/Links of Interest
