Photographer Withdraws Lawsuit in Shepard Fairey Case; New York Times, 8/23/10

Randy Kennedy, New York Times; Photographer Withdraws Lawsuit in Shepard Fairey Case:

"The photographer who took the shot of Barack Obama that was later transformed by the street artist Shepard Fairey into the well-known “Hope” campaign poster has withdrawn a lawsuit against the Associated Press, in which he claimed he was not working for the agency when he took the picture."

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/photographer-withdraws-lawsuit-in-shepard-fairey-case/?scp=2&sq=copyright&st=cse

Yahoo Keeps AP in Its Content Corner With New Deal; Associated Press, via New York Times, 2/1/10

Associated Press, via New York Times; Yahoo Keeps AP in Its Content Corner With New Deal:

"The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters.

The announcement by both companies Monday didn't disclose the financial terms of the agreement, which allows Yahoo to continue posting AP content on its site.

The AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its Web site in late December.

Stung by the AP's first downturn in revenue in years, AP's management has said the cooperative needs to make more money from the online rights to its stories, photographs and video as more people flock to the Web for information and entertainment."

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/01/business/AP-US-TEC-AP-Yahoo.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=yahoo%20ap&st=cse

Fairey Said to Face Criminal Inquiry in Obama Photo Case; New York Times, 1/27/10

Robin Pogrebin, New York Times; Fairey Said to Face Criminal Inquiry in Obama Photo Case:

"A criminal investigation is pending against the artist Shepard Fairey in connection with his use of an Associated Press photograph of Barack Obama, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York revealed in a hearing on Tuesday, a lawyer involved in the case said on Wednesday.

At the hearing, Judge Hellerstein denied a motion by Mr. Fairey to delay a deposition in a civil case while the criminal investigation is pending. In a letter obtained by The New York Times, an attorney for Mr. Fairey also alluded to a criminal investigation. The letter requested that Tuesday’s hearing be sealed “based on the fact that the motion relates to a grand jury investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

“An open hearing on these issues would risk compromising the confidential nature of the criminal investigation,” added the letter, signed by Meir Feder, a lawyer at Jones Day. That motion was also denied.

The legal dispute hinges on whether Mr. Fairey had the right to use an A.P. photo of Mr. Obama for his “Hope” poster. In October, Mr. Fairey admitted that he had lied in court papers about using a different photograph of Mr. Obama, and that he had created false documents to cover the discrepancy."

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/fairey-said-to-face-criminal-inquiry-in-photo-case/?scp=1&sq=fairey&st=cse

‘Hope’ Poster Artist Admits Error; New York Times, 10/17/09

Associated Press via New York Times; ‘Hope’ Poster Artist Admits Error:

"The artist who designed the famous Barack Obama ''HOPE'' poster has admitted he didn't use the Associated Press photo he originally said his work was based on but instead used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source.

Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles-based street artist with a long, often proud history of breaking rules, said in a statement Friday that he was wrong about which photo he used and that he tried to hide his error. It was not immediately clear whether he would drop his lawsuit against the AP over the use of the photo.

''In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images,'' said Fairey, who has been involved in countersuits with the AP, which has alleged copyright infringement. ''I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone.''

He said he was taking steps to correct the information and regretted that he didn't come forward sooner."

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/17/arts/AP-US-AP-Poster-Artist.html

A.P. Says Shepard Fairey Lied About ‘Hope’ Poster; New York Times, 10/16/09

Anahad O'Connor, New York Times; A.P. Says Shepard Fairey Lied About ‘Hope’ Poster:

"Lawyers for the visual artist who created the famous “Hope” poster of Barack Obama have acknowledged that he lied about which photograph he based the poster on and that he fabricated evidence in an effort to bolster his lawsuit against The Associated Press, according to a statement released by The A.P. on Friday night.

The artist, Shepard Fairey, is best known for his iconic poster of Mr. Obama — head cocked to one side, eyes pointed skyward — that gained international recognition during the presidential election. The A.P. sought credit and compensation from Mr. Fairey earlier this year, claiming that the poster was based on one of its photographs and that Mr. Fairey needed permission to use it. Mr. Fairey then filed suit against The A.P. in February, citing fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which prompted The A.P. to file a countersuit in March, claiming “misappropriation.”

But in a statement released Friday night, Srinandan R. Kasi, The A.P.’s general counsel, said that Mr. Fairey’s lawyers had acknowledged he lied when he claimed in court papers that he used a different photograph of Mr. Obama than the one The A.P. has alleged.

“Fairey’s lies about which photo was the source image were discovered after the AP had spent months asking Fairey’s counsel for documents regarding the creation of the posters, including copies of any source images that Fairey used,” Mr. Kasi said. “Fairey’s counsel has now admitted that Fairey tried to destroy documents that would have revealed which image he actually used.”
Lawyers for Mr. Fairey also acknowledged that he created fake documents to conceal which image he used and fake stencil patterns of the “Hope” and “Progress” posters, Mr. Kasi said. The statement hinted at turmoil between Mr. Fairey and his lawyers, and suggested The A.P. would continue its battle with the artist.

“Fairey’s counsel informed the AP that they intended to seek the Courts permission to withdraw as counsel for Fairey and his related entities,” Mr. Kasi said. “The AP intends to vigorously pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP’s copyright in the close-up photo of then-Sen. Obama by using it without permission to create the Hope and Progress posters and related products, including T-shirts and sweatshirts that have led to substantial revenue.”

Update 12:55 a.m. A lawyer for Mr. Fairey, Anthony Falzone, wrote in an e-mail message early Saturday morning: “This is a very unfortunate situation. I hope it does not obscure the underlying issues of fair use and free expression at the center of this case. But as Mr. Fairey’s attorney, it would not be appropriate for me to comment beyond that.”"

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/ap-says-shepard-fairey-lied-about-hope-poster/?scp=6&sq=copyright&st=cse

With Software, The A.P. Takes on Digital Piracy of Articles; New York Times, 7/23/09

Richard Perez-Pena via New York Times; With Software, The A.P. Takes on Digital Piracy of Articles:

"Vowing to fight unauthorized reproduction of news reports online, The Associated Press said Thursday that it would add software to each article showing who created it and what limits apply to the rights to use it. The software will also notify the A.P. about how the article is used across the Web.

The new program, approved Thursday by the A.P. board, follows through on a statement the company made in April that it would take on digital piracy not only for itself, but on behalf of embattled American newspapers, which own the A.P., a nonprofit corporation. But the announcement raises many unanswered questions, including who the intended targets are, what the legal limits are on using material online, and what redress it will seek.

At first, the program will apply only to the company’s own reporting – and eventually pictures and video – but the A.P. plans to invite its 1,400 member newspapers to join in next year. Newspaper executives have said that by taking the lead, the A.P. ensures a unified approach, saves publishers from having to design their own programs and circumvents possible charges of collusion against the papers.

Executives of many news organizations have long complained about the way blogs, news aggregators like The Drudge Report and The Huffington Post, and search engines like Google and Yahoo, use excerpts of their work, even when they also link back to the sources of the articles. Those sites contend that their practices fall under the legal principle of fair use, but the boundaries of that doctrine are largely untested in court.

Another complaint is that a link to an article sometimes leads to another second-hand user, not the original source, which can deprive the creator of some of the audience for its own site and the ads on it. There are also less- well-known sites that outright reprint articles, or large pieces of them, without permission, a clearer copyright violation, but there is little consensus about how big a problem that is for news organizations.

The A. P. has not said which sites it considers a major challenge, or how it would confront them, but its executives have made clear that the end goal is to get more compensation from the sites that use the material."

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/with-software-the-ap-takes-on-digital-piracy-of-articles/?scp=2&sq=piracy&st=cse

AP setting up tracking system for Web content; Associated Press, 7/23/09

Michael Liedtke via Associated Press; AP setting up tracking system for Web content:

"The Associated Press is moving ahead with plans for a system to detect unlicensed use of its content and potentially create new ways for the 163-year-old news cooperative and other media to make more money on the Internet.

As part of a strategy approved Thursday by the AP's board, the cooperative will start by bundling its text stories in an "informational wrapper" that will include a built-in beacon to monitor where stories go on the Internet.

The beacon is meant to be a policing device aimed at deterring Web sites from posting AP content without paying licensing fees. The AP and its member newspapers contend unlicensed use of their material is costing them tens of millions of dollars in potential ad revenue...

Although the AP's new system is set up to guard copyrights, it could also raise privacy concerns."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivcsLigqu-EzL9UftRBGenALpzEgD99KEKH02

Obama Poster Photographer Says He Owns the Picture; New York Times, 7/15/09

Randy Kennedy via New York Times; Obama Poster Photographer Says He Owns the Picture:

"A freelance photographer who took the picture of Barack Obama that became the basis for Shepard Fairey’s well-known “Hope” poster has filed court papers arguing that The Associated Press, for whom he was working temporarily at the time, does not own the copyright to the picture.

The photographer, Mannie Garcia, said that he worked for The Associated Press for five weeks in the spring of 2006, when he took the picture of Mr. Obama listening intently at an event concerning Darfur at the National Press Club in Washington. Mr. Garcia contends in his papers, filed July 8 in federal court in Manhattan, that he received no benefits or vacation from The Associated Press during his time working for the news service and “never agreed to assign his copyright rights” to any photographs he took, so that he owns them and should benefit from any profits made from them.

Mr. Fairey and The Associated Press have been locked in a court battle for several months over the Obama image. The Associated Press contends that it owns the copyright to the picture and that Mr. Fairey misappropriated it. Mr. Fairey is seeking a declaratory judgment that his borrowing is protected under fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which allow limited use of protected materials for purposes like criticism or comment.

George F. Carpinello, Mr. Garcia’s lawyer, said that his client is saying “neither one of you should win this case - I should win this case.” A spokesman for The Associated Press said that it is “evaluating Mannie Garcia’s position, but remains confident in AP’s ownership of the copyright because Mr. Garcia was an employee of AP when he took the photo in 2006.”"

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/obama-poster-photographer-says-he-owns-the-picture/?scp=1&sq=garcia%20obama%20hope%20fairey&st=cse

All's Fair Under Fair Use?; Forbes.com, 5/13/09

Via Forbes.com; All's Fair Under Fair Use?: A nebulous legal doctrine collides with collapsing ad revenues and explosive growth in digital news:

"On a late May morning, Srinandan R. Kasi, general counsel for the Associated Press, eyes four clusters of blue dots scattered across his computer screen as if they were a crime scene. Each dot represents a unique URL hosting content carrying a digital fingerprint of an AP-produced story.

Most dots, says Kasi, are infringers--sites who carry AP work without permission, or don't link material back to the AP...

The issue at hand: abuse of "fair use," a nebulous legal doctrine that allows use of copyrighted material without permission from the creators. The AP has been wrangling with Google and other aggregators over its definition for three years.

Now, with a collapsing ad pie and explosive growth in digital news platforms, defining fair use is suddenly critical for media companies from The New York Times and The Washington Post to conglomerates like News Corp. and Time Warner.

Yet for all its importance, it remains a tricky concept courts determine on an agonizing case-by-case basis--making it difficult to determine whether the Next Big Thing on the Web is providing a valuable public service or violating copyright law on a wholesale basis."

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/12/copyright-fair-use-business-media-fair-use.html

Google Insists It’s a Friend to Newspapers, The New York Times, 4/8/09

Via The New York Times: Google Insists It’s a Friend to Newspapers:

"It had the makings of a high-tension face-off: Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, spoke Tuesday at a convention of newspaper executives at a time when a growing chorus in the struggling industry is accusing Google of succeeding, in part, at their expense...

His speech was followed by polite questions from industry executives that only briefly touched upon a perennially sore point: whether the use of headlines and snippets of newspaper stories on Google News is “fair use” under copyright law or a misappropriation of newspaper content...

“While Google News generates a lot of audience, ultimately, the question is going to be who is going to make the money out of that: Google or the publishers.”...

Google has long insisted that its use of snippets and headlines in Google News is legal. It also said Google News drove a huge amount of traffic to newspaper Web sites, which the publishers monetize through advertising...

Newspaper companies have been unwilling to test the issue in court, where Google’s fair-use arguments could prevail, and it is not clear that The A.P. plans to do so."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/technology/internet/08google.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=google%20fair%20use&st=cse

Touchdown Steelerbaby, Pittsburgh City Paper, 3/19/09

Via Pittsburgh City Paper: Touchdown Steelerbaby:

"Fairey's own Obama poster is now the subject of litigation with the Associated Press, which claims the poster's imagery improperly borrowed one of its photographs. Obey Giant Art's [cease and desist] notice was delivered the same day the AP filed suit.

When news of Fairey's reversal hit the Internet, in fact, some bloggers speculated the lawsuit was the reason for the change. AP, some suggested, might have used Fairey's attack on Steelerbaby to bolster its own challenge.

But Michael Madison, a trademark and copyright-law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, says that the two situations raise totally different legal issues. AP is accusing Fairey of violating copyright laws, which govern writing, photos and other original work. Fairey's objection to Steelerbaby, meanwhile, was that it violated trademark laws, which govern logos and words used to identify a company's products. Different legal questions apply in those situations, Madison says. Legally speaking, "There is no inconsistency to what Fairey is doing."

On the other hand, Madison adds, "It looks like there is some inconsistency at the conceptual level." After all, Madison says, "He's staked his career on appropriating other peoples' works.""

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A60579