So Shepard Fairey, the really great street artist who created the Obama Hope poster, has sued the Associated Press in order to get a judge to say that he did not infringe on their copyright of the image that an AP photographer took. Shepard Fairey, you have an opportunity to help the newspaper business in a huge way right now. Don't be an ass. Pay.
- Fairey has conceded that he used this image as a basis for his poster
- The image was taken by an AP photographer, Manny Garcia, who separately disputes that the AP even owns the image– he says he owns it. Let's set that dispute aside for the moment
- The image was used to creative a new, derivative work
- To the extent that Fairey made money off of this the new work, he should pay someone something
This is a classic derivate work. I'm all for stealing shit off the internet and resuing it in new art. I pretty much do it at least once a week. As I've written in my Derivative Works Art Manifesto a few years ago, anybody should be able to take anything and make new things from it. It's a fundamental basis of creativity.
But we need to have a system for automatic payments back to the original author of the work in the event that revenue is generated from the derivative work. It's fair, and it keeps everyone's creative wheels greased. If you don't make any money, nobody should pay. But if you stand on someone shoulders, they need a payday.
News organizations, especially newspapers, are in a financial crisis. They have enormous operations that cover the world day after day. The send photographers and reporters to thousands of mundane events, just so we can be informed. Their advertising revenue models are broken. When they hit the jackpot– when their foresight and effort leads to an extraordinary product– they should get paid.
Pay up, Shepard Fairey. It's the right thing to do.