Fair Use or Not?

I’ve been listening to Terry Gross interview Shepard Fairey about his image of   Barack Obama—the one that became so famous during the campaign. He’s involved in a lawsuit over his use of the image which is an artistic elaboration on a photo taken by Mannie Garcia of the Associated Press. I post it here so you don’t have to bother to link:

 

(I know that I’m allowed to post it because I’ve read my rights with regard to intellectual property and fair use.)

 

During the campaign there were many grass-roots renditions of Obama photos, and I made one myself for a fundraiser at a local art gallery. I chickened out and didn’t submit it, but I’m posting it here now. For you.

 

Like Shepard Fairey, I used another person’s photo and tinkered around as artists do to add some gray to the black and white, to convey my own impression. I used a photo that was sanctioned by the Obama campaign headquarters; Fairey didn’t.  Still I’m not sure he isn’t within his rights. Was it only wrong because he profited from it?

 

Not that I’m worried about ‘fair use.’ You’ve seen my Pres. Obama leaning out the Govins' limo! (below)

Comments

[Helm]

Did the photo enter the public domain? Beyond that, I'm uncertain. At what point do we say that reality cannot be altered? Then again, we do prosecute inaccurate gossip. But if there's no change, time doesn't pass. Perhaps I should stop reading Hawking.

The way things are going, there will soon be a class action suit against God for allowing time to happen unattended. :).

Helm.