Are you still confused about the latest twists in the AP’s copyright infringement case against artist Shepard Fairey for his use of an AP photograph as the inspiration for his famous Obama Hope poster? Just watch this Attack of the Show video in which TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid explains how Fairey was caught lying about which image he used (a story Jason broke on Friday, even beating the AP), but still thinks he has a fair use case.
What this very public fight with Shepard Fairey boils down to, explains Jason at the end of the interview, is that if the AP “can take him down, everyone else will be scared to use AP material.”
Update: Earlier today, the AP filed an amended complaint with the court, noting the change in Shepard’s story. It also added his licensing company, Obey Clothing, as a defendant, suggesting it has evidence that he did indeed profit from the image at some point.
“What this very public fight with Shepard Fairey boils down to, explains Jason at the end of the interview, is that if the AP “can take him down, everyone else will be scared to use AP material.”
News flash to TC: Um, that’s the point of AP’s actions. To stop those who don’t pay and don’t fall under fair use from using their material.
And this warrants a TC entry?
You should do a little more research into the “work” of Shepard Fairey. He has a long history of plagiarising and/or copying original sources to create his graphic designs… A long history of plagiarising and “borrowing” other work.
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It’s an interesting case with parallels in music, reminds me of the landmark Biz Markie sampling lawsuit, which established that sampling had to be cleared with the original artist.
You cannot create something without borrowing from previous creators, no one creates in a vacuum, not too hopeful to see big business taking this issue to court…
i see nothing
It may not be plagiarism in the strictist sense, certainly not in the literary sense of stealing word for word, but much of his stuff steals image for image.
Consider:
http://www.art-.../Obey/index.htm
http://providen...agiarism-again/
Oh, but wait. We’re promoting Jason’s appearance on television. My bad.
TC misses the obvious here. The close up picture is very, very similar to the HOPE poster. It definitely makes the fair use issue much more difficult to judge. THAT is why Fairy lied in the first place.
I definitely didn’t miss that. In fact, I said it pretty explicitly.
‘if the AP “can take him down, everyone else will be scared to use AP material.”’
That sounds like a Glen Beck “slippery slope” argument.
Yes, people in general should be scared to plagiarize, but not scared to use content legally. You can use the work of others but you should get permission first and credit them. Fairy doesn’t do this. The AP photo was not inspiration for his work, he took the photo as-is and applied color filters to it.
If TC is going to have this many posts on this topic the staff needs to learn what “fair use” and “plagiarism” mean, and what’s the difference, because at the moment you seem very confused.
If this issue did not involve a so called “underground” artist and the “evil big company”, the AP, it would be a straight up case of plagiarism. Reverse the roles here for a moment, and imagine that Fairey took the photograph and the AP modified it. You’d be outraged.
Fairey has been sued by artists and media companies in the past for this and yet none of those lawsuits warranted a TC post. The only reason he doesn’t get sued more often is he likes to use obscure images where the artist is deceased or unknown because the art was produced to speak out against a totalitarian regime and therefore had to remain unattributed.
Go read this: http://www.art-.../Obey/index.htm
It’s one of many articles on Fairey and his practice of plagiarism. He steals the work of others, applies photoshop filters, slaps his “obey” brand and his own copyright on it, and does not attribute the work. And what’s really sad is in some cases the artists really were underground and risked their lives creating these images.
This guys is basically a knock-off t-shirt and poster maker. That’s it. Do some homework and get off this topic because it’s annoying. It has nothing to do with tech and you’re just showing your ignorance in an area you should be more informed on to begin with.
Maybe I’ll rip off TC verbatim, strip off the ads, put my own ads on the content–but change the text color to red. By your standards that’s legal.
“The AP photo was not inspiration for his work, he took the photo as-is and applied color filters to it. ”
You are incorrect. Even a layman can look at the photo next to the poster and see it’s an interpretation – it’s a painting. In fact he painted that poster so well, you think it’s a simple photoshop filter overtop of a clipped photograph. It isn’t, because it’s a painting.
See what happens when people on tech sites attempt to critique art?
Yeah, I see what happens, people who haven’t read Fairey’s own description of how he works make dumb comments.
You did make me laugh though. So basically I just don’t get Fairey’s genius–his copies are so good they look like, well, copies.
And I didn’t attempt to critique his work, I did. And he’s not an artist, he’s a t-shirt vendor.
1. Stop using AP , let them wither and die
2. Please re-institute the AP-ban on TechCrunch.
3. Please stop creating chairman Mao-like pictures that glorify Obama’s image.
These three easy steps will make the world a better place.
You know, it’s a good thing Gustave Courbet didn’t work from someone else’s photograph when painting ‘Bonjour Monsieur Corbet!’, because after awhile the owner of the photograph would stop and say, ‘Hey, he made a work of art out of MY photo of two people standing and talking, so I should get all his profits!’ It’s also good that the hypothetical owner of said hypothetical photo didn’t work for a gigantic news organization, because then we may never have seen Courbet follow up with ‘The Artist’s Studio’.
If they had the internet in 1854 you can bet commenters on tech(!) sites would critique his art, call him a copycat artist and generally carry a ’so what, I can do that too, it’s not art’ attitude.
You got lucky, Monsieur Courbet.
He does seem like a rouge artist, but its very good work. If someone complained about their image that would be another issue.
Bonjour Monsieur Corbet didn’t really work for me.. what am i doing wrong….
Shepard Fairey is such a d*uche and hypocrite.
I hope all his fanboys are aware that another artist copied one of Sheppard Fairey’s pieces- and he SUED THEM.
Yes- you heard right. He did the very thing to another artist what the AP are doing to him.
“Do as I say, not as I do” is Sheppard Fairey’s motto.
Jason – Kudos on a really good interview…. very clear and informative.
So, how long before we see you as a regular video commentator somewhere… maybe TC TV?