For the unfamiliar, the title is actually a quote by Pablo Picasso and has to do with drawing inspiration from something while putting your touch on it. There’s a thin line between blatantly jacking someone’s idea and flipping it enough to make it your own. It’s not an unfamiliar concept to Hip-Hop, with sampling and copyright infringement banging heads since Biz Markie’s “I Need A Haircut.” I’ve never been a fan of copyright laws because of the sheer amount of Hip-Hop songs that have never seen the light of day because some forgotten artist hates the genre and doesn’t clear the sample. Shepard Fairey, the creator of the now iconic image above, is being sued by the AP for not getting proper permission to use the image in his design.

On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year’s presidential campaign: a pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.
Designed by Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist, the image has led to sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, and has become so much in demand that copies signed by Fairey have been purchased for thousands of dollars on eBay.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

Fairey created the image around this time last year and it became a staple during Obama’s campaign: both officially and in grassroots efforts. I can understand the AP’s point of view and trying to protect the intellectual property of it’s members, but I think they should let this one slide. Fairey may not have followed protocol and recieved permission, but he’s come clean and admitted to using the photo. The AP can’t just retroactively give permission? Unless by “permission,” they mean getting a slice of any profits that come from this. This photo was taken in 2006 and has been laying around ever since, forgotten by probably everyone except Garcia. It’s been outta sight and outta mind ever since until Fairey came across it.

My thought? Copyright reform.

I came across this idea back in November on http://newmusicstrategies.com. The sites creator, Adrew Dubber, presented a case for shorter copyright durations in five year blocks based on popularity and monetary viability. Copyrights could be renewed after five years if it still had commercial merit, but if it didn’t it would immediately become public domain. Meaning a song like “Lollipop” would rightfully hold onto it’s copyright longer than “Pop Champagne.” This could also be applied to photography as well, in say two or three year periods. Because as it stands now, Fairey violated (& admitted) the AP copyright law, so he’ll probably have to pay some restitution. But he took a photo that was a couple years old and reinvigorated it, making it something that will probably remain a part of the American history long after all parties involved are gone. For that alone Fairey should be given credit for what he created.

Obama Artist Shepard Fairey In Legal Storm For His Audacity Of ‘Hope’ – [Times Online]