Shepard Fairey Accused of More Lies

Admitting to covering up the source of his presidential HOPE portrait, Shepard Fairey said his lying and evidence destruction was merely an attempt to conceal his “mistake” of actually believing he had used a different image. The Associated Press has fired back, calling the graphic design-stealing artist’s story completely implausible and saying his alleged mistake was only an effort “to spin those bad acts in the best light possible to the Court and the public.” In a press release accompanying amendments to their countersuit, the AP also questions the integrity of Fairey’s dreams about George Clooney. Read more »

Shepard Fairey Admits He Lied To AP About ‘HOPE’

In a searing blow to counter culture and the integrity of his career, graphic design stealing artist Shepard Fairey admitted he lied about the source of his presidential HOPE portrait in his ongoing legal dispute with the Associated Press. In a statement released Friday on his website, he discussed the blatant thievery and apologized, kinda: Read more »

AP Won’t Charge Bloggers $2.50 a Word

The Associated Press issued a statement denying claims they were planning to charge bloggers $2.50 a word to quote their content in a response to recent criticisms of their automated licensing forms, part of plans to stop the “misappropriation of news on the internet.” Spokesperson Paul Colford explained that the iCopyright form drawing so much ire “is not aimed at bloggers. It is intended to make it easy for people who want to license AP content to do so.” Read more »

Obama Photographer Takes On Shepard Fairey and the AP

Just as his Boston vandalism charges are wrapped up with a guilty plea, Shepard Fairey’s other legal problems are getting more complex. Mannie Garcia, the freelance photographer who shot the Barack Obama photo on which Fairey based his iconic “Hope” portrait, is jumping in the fray between the appropriating artist and the Associated Press. Garcia is challenging the AP’s lawsuit against Shepard Fairey for copyright infringement, filing a motion that he is the actual owner of rights to the photo. Read more »

Artist Stages ‘Intellectual Property Asshole Competition’

In one corner: Shepard Fairey, an artist who has built his empire on appropriated art but files cease and desist letters to artists who co-opt his work even for parody purposes. In the other corner: The Associated Press, the world’s biggest news service sometimes less accurate than MTV that claims “fair use” only applies to them, not others. These two challengers will vie to win a new competition organized by Evan Roth, the Graffiti Research Lab co-founder and Hova textualizer, who writes: Read more »

Is MTV News More Accurate Than the AP? Yup!

This past Sunday, the Associated Press reported that illegal gun purchasing rapper T.I. would only have to serve 2 months in prison instead of the 1 year and 1 day he was sentenced to, claiming that 305 days of house arrest would go towards his term, but they got the story wrong. And shockingly, it was MTV News that corrected them. In reality, T.I. will have to do a minimum of 10 months and might be able to “shave almost 55 days off his sentence” for good behavior. Apparently they didn’t read the report correctly: “Once T.I. completes the prison term, he will still have to serve out the remainder of his home confinement” which amounts to about 2 months. |Miss Info|

Shepard Fairey Fires Back at AP’s Two-Faced Claim

On Tuesday, lawyers for artist Shepard Fairey filed their countersuit against the Associated Press, alleging that his use of one of their photos of Barack Obama in creating the iconic “Hope” portrait is protected within the bounds of fair use. Using the “doctrine of unclean hands,” Fairey’s lawyers also contend the AP is engaged in similar behavior to that they’ve accused Fairey of. One section of the document details more than a dozen instances of the AP copyrighting and profiting from photos that are nearly or exclusively composed of copyrighted artworks they don’t have permission to, including works by Fairey, Banksy, Jeff Koons and other artists. Read more »

Is Shepard Fairey Trying To Switch His Sources?

In a recent statement, artist Shepard Fairey explains some reasoning behind his lawsuit against The Associated Press, which he hopes will protect him from copyright infringement claims over his “Hope” portrait of President Obama. The strange thing is that Fairey acknowledges referencing a photo by AP photographer Mannie Garcia, but claims it was “not the one being circulated by press.” However, that’s not true as James Danziger, a gallerist who showed Garcia’s referenced photo in an exhibit of Obama imagery, points out in an open letter to Fairey: Read more »

AP Plans to Get Tough With News Thieves

Yesterday, the Associated Press announced a new initiative to stop the “misappropriation of news on the internet,” pledging to work with news portals and websites that license their content and “pursue legal and legislative actions against those who don’t.” “We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories,” said AP Chairman John Singleton, adding, “We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more.” Read more »

The AP Describes Ketamine With ‘Date Rape’ Credentials Only

In this story about a NYC man who tried to smuggle Ketamine into the U.S. by claiming it was ‘holy water,’ the Associated Press defines the rave centric cocktail as “a powerful hallucinogenic used as a date rape drug.” But considering the sheer amount of medical uses for ‘K’ in humans and animals, plus its inclusion on the WHO’s “essential drug” list, this predatory description is a misleading way to portray the multi-purposeful substance. While its understandable that the Feds would paint this alleged act of villainy in the worst possible light, that doesn’t mean the AP should use the same brush. |AP|