AP Claims Iconic Obama Poster Is "Copyright Infringement"

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 5, 2009 6:45PM

Remember Shepard Fariey's iconic HOPE poster featuring now-President Barack Obama? Of course you do. They're still featured on banners hanging from various light poles across the city. It was one of the most popular campaign posters in recent memory but now the Associate Press wants monetary compensation and credit for what they believe is a case of copyright infringement. Fariey has conceded that the likeness of Obama on his poster is based on an AP photo taken at the Washington Press Club in 2006 by photographer Manny Garcia. In a statement, the AP said:

"The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission," the AP's director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement.

"AP safeguards its assets and looks at these events on a case-by-case basis. We have reached out to Mr. Fairey's attorney and are in discussions. We hope for an amicable solution."

Fariey disagrees and his attorney responded in a statement:

"We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," says Fairey's attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School. "It wouldn't be appropriate to comment beyond that at this time because we are in discussions about this with the AP."

Interestingly, the AP story on case calls Fairey "A longtime rebel with a history of breaking rules" and cites an unnamed Obama Campaign source as saying the campaign never officially licensed the image for the campaign and, in fact, later asked Fairey to do another version of the poster using a picture the campaign had rights to, which he did. Twice. Fairey maintains that he hasn't profited from the poster, but it's obvious someone has, so the AP wants its share of the money.