I’m sure we’ve all seen it — that famous visual of Obama that has become an icon of sorts among the faithful:
On the left you can see the photograph the image was created from. Now certainly plenty of people had access to Photoshop and yet were unable to produce a similarly iconic creation, so they’re no denying that the artist in question, Shepard Fairey, deserved credit for his work. Also deserving of credit, however, is the photographer who took the original photo. Unfortunately Fairey didn’t even see fit to put in an honorable mention for the original photographer, who was notified sometime last month by a media organization that his photo had been identified as the original source for the graphic.
AP, being a content company and a for profit entity like most journalistic endeavors, became quite interested. So they contacted Fairey, and made him an offer:
A.P. was in the middle of settlement discussions with Mr. Fairey’s attorney last week in order to resolve this amicably and made it clear that a settlement would benefit the A.P. Emergency Relief Fund, a charitable fund that supports A.P. journalists around the world who suffer personal loss from natural disasters and conflicts.
My Fairey responded by suing the AP.