Fairey vs A.P.

Many people around the world probably have not heard of the name Shepherd Fairey. However, they have probably seen his famed artwork of Barack Obama colored in red, white, and blue, with the letters HOPE written across the bottom. Such an iconic work that Mr. Fairey has created is now in a deep legal situation.

The issue at stake is that Shepherd used a photograph taken for the A.P. by Mannie Green, a freelance photographer. The A.P. claimed that it owned the photo and demanded some of the earnings Mr. Fairey made from the poster.

Fairey decided to take the matter into his own hands by suing the A.P. His argument is that this work is protected by the fair-use copyright law. The fair use law takes into account four basic factors for consideration: the purpose of the work, the nature of the work, the market effect of the work, and the deviation from the original copyrighted work.

I personally believe that Fairey should be protected from any wrong doings. He took a photo, which could be like any other photo of Obama, and transformed it into a stunning, visual art masterpiece. Fairey used Garica's painting as a reference to his drawing, but the purpose of his drawing was to create a different message.

What makes matters more complicated in this case is that Mr. Garcia believes that he is the owner of the painting, and not the A.P. Garica doesn't know how he will take up this matter seeing that it has already been sent to the courts. However, he was very proud that his photo has been the main reason behind Mr. Fairey's patriotic work.

This is a special case involving the fair use agreement and it will be interesting to see how this matter is solved in court.