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

Thomas retrial begins Monday: what to expect; Ars Technica, 6/14/09

Nate Anderson via Ars Technica; Thomas retrial begins Monday: what to expect:

Monday morning, the federal file-sharing trial of Jammie Thomas-Rasset begins, and Ars will be there with gavel-to-gavel coverage. Here's what you need to know to keep up:

"Last time around, the case took three days to hear; this time, the lawyers estimate that it will take five. If the retrial is anything like the first go-round, we should get a verdict quickly, though whether a jury will award the RIAA nearly $10,000 in damages per song again remains to be seen.

Whatever the verdict, [defense attorney Kiwi] Camara has already announced his intent to take on the recording industry's entire legal campaign. Along with Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, Camara tells Ars that he plans to file a class-action lawsuit against the recording industry later this summer."

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/thomas-retrial-begins-monday-what-to-expect.ars

Shepard Fairey: Inspiration Or Infringement?, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, 2/26/09

Via Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Podcast [25 min. 34 sec.] and Show Summary for "Shepard Fairey: Inspiration Or Infringement?":

"The Associated Press has threatened to sue the artist who created the iconic "Hope" poster of Barack Obama for copyright infringement, but Shepard Fairey says his work is protected under the principle of "Fair Use," which exempts artists and others from some copyright restrictions, under certain circumstances.

Fairey based his poster on an April 2006 photo of Obama taken by AP photographer Mannie Garcia."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101182453

Jackson Browne vs. John McCain: Round 3, The New York Times, 2/24/09

Via The New York Times: Jackson Browne vs. John McCain: Round 3:

"A legal dispute between Jackson Browne and Senator John McCain over Mr. Browne’s song “Running on Empty” will keep running: In federal district court in California on Friday, a judge denied motions filed by Mr. McCain and the Republican National Committee to halt a lawsuit brought against them by Mr. Browne, according to court documents. In his suit, Mr. Browne said that Mr. McCain and the committee had infringed on his copyrights by using “Running on Empty” in a presidential campaign commercial without Mr. Browne’s permission. Mr. McCain and the R.N.C. had argued that First Amendment and fair-use rules permitted the use of the song because it occurred in a political context, but Judge R. Gary Klausner was unconvinced; Judge Klausner also set a late April date for a hearing to set a schedule for a jury trial."

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/jackson-browne-vs-john-mccain-round-3/

One Man’s Blanche Is a University’s Infringement, The New York Times, 2/5/09

Via The New York Times: One Man’s Blanche Is a University’s Infringement:

"Through friends Mr. Rosenthal obtained pro bono representation from lawyers at the New York office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, who argued that First Amendment rights contained in the legal doctrine of fair use allowed Mr. Rosenthal to create a new performance piece partly inspired by the “Streetcar” character.

But in a cease-and-desist letter to Mr. Rosenthal’s lawyer, sent on Jan. 22, the university’s legal team disputed that the fair-use doctrine applied to this play."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/theater/05ceas.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=infringement&st=cse