Why am I not surprised that yet another Barack Obama associate turns out to be a liar and a cheat?
According to online reports, Shephard Fairey, the artist who created the iconic Obama ‘Hope’ posters, has now admitted to lying about the original image he used to recreate the artwork.
The Associated Press, which owns the rights to the photo that Fairey used to create the artwork, sued Fairey for violating its copyrights by marketing an exact replica of a close up headshot of Obama.
The headshot was snapped by AP photographer Mannie Garcia in 2006 at the National Press Club in Washington when Obama was still an Illinois Senator.
Fairey sued the AP earlier this year, arguing that he used a different image of Obama, taken by the same AP photographer at the same event. He claimed that his use of the copyrighted work was protected under the “Fair Use” doctrine, which states that a portion of a copyrighted work can be reproduced for the purposes of news reporting or criticism, etc.
Fairey claimed his ‘Hope’ poster qualified as “fair use” because he dramatically changed an AP photo of then-Senator Obama seated next to George Clooney — not the close up headshot that the AP alleged he used. Both photos were snapped by Garcia at the NPC event.
In an attempt to cover up his lies, Fairey scrubbed his hard drive, deleting any evidence of the close up headshot photograph. But Fairey was forced to come clean when his own lawyers dumped him as a client.
“In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images,” said Fairey.
Fairey admitted that his Obama poster was an exact reproduction of the AP photo that he then used for commercial marketing and personal profit — a clear violation of copyright law.
While Fairey’s frivolous suit against the AP will likely be dropped, the AP will proceed with their case against Fairey, who has become rich off of the sales and licensing of the Obama poster.
