FACULTAD DE CONTADURIA PÚBLICA Y ADMINISTRACION
LICENCIADO EN NEGOCIOS INTERNACIONALES
LAW V
Abraham Garcia
Final Project
“The Associated Press vs. Fairey”
Priscila Casanova Villalpando ID# 1444411
Juan Carlos Marx Gomez ID#1536312
A ciudad universitaria, Nuevo león. 20 de mayo 2013
The Associated Press vs. Fairey
A PHOTO FINISH? COPYRIGHT AND SHEPARD FAIREY’S
USE OF A NEWS PHOTO IMAGE OFTHE PRESIDENT
Shelly Rosenfeld
“Most importantly, I am fighting the AP to protect the rights of all artists, especially those with a desire to make art with social commentary. This is about artistic freedom and basic rights of free expression, which need to be available to all, whether they have money and lawyers or not.” –Shepard Fairey
“The journalism that AP and other organizations produce is vital to democracy. To continue to provide it, news organizations must protect their intellectual property rights as vigorously as they have historically fought to protect the First Amendment.” –Press Release, Associated Press
INTRODUCTION
During the 2008 campaign, an image featuring then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s photo became the subject of a legal dispute that continued long after the election ended. Amidst the presidential debates, another debate was brewing—between a famous visual artist, Shepard Fairey, and a major newsgathering agency, the Associated Press (AP). An AP photographer, Mannie Garcia, took the picture of the presidential hopeful, which Fairey popularized on posters that he emblazoned with the word “Hope.” Once it was determined that Fairey had used AP photographer Mannie Garcia’s image of presidential candidate Obama in his posters, the issue in Fairey v. Associated Press was whether Fairey’s use of the photo constituted “fair use,” an affirmative defense under the Copyright Act. If so, Fairey’s “fair use” would excuse the copyright infringement and Fairey would not have to pay. If not, Fairey would be