How Obama Poster Artist suing AP over photo use affects You
by Paul Prins at 4:30 pm
In the ongoing debate over what constitutes fair use of another persons work, the iconic poster of Barack Obama has been brought into the spotlight. The conflict is under the Fair Use section of the copy right law and their may be implications for your church.
For those of you unfamiliar with this struggle, copyright law has for a long time been a point of struggle for artists. Part of the brilliance of Andy Warhol was his re-purposing of a popular image (Marilyn Monroe, or Campbells Soup Cans) into something totally different.
The Case of Shepard Fairey and the Hope poster
To be considered a new piece of art the artist has to ‘significantly’ change the original. In this case the original was taken in April 2006 by Associated Press photographer Manny Garcia at the National Press Club in Washington DC (image left). The iconic poster was created by Shepard Fairey.
Fairey is preemptively suing the AP to find that his use of an AP photo in creating the poster did not violate copyright law. If he did, there would be a lot of money leaving Faireys pockets towards those of the AP and Garcia. With the similarity in form (it is obvious that the style is different) it is unsure how the judgment will pan out.
Opinions are also mixed on the topic as well.
For myself—this is subjective—I find the relationship between Fairey’s work and his sources discomforting. Nothing substantial has been added. In my own case, when I did the Dylan poster, I acknowledged using Duchamp’s profile as an influence. I think unless you’re modifying it and making it your own, you’re on very tenuous ground. It’s a dangerous example for students, if they see that appropriating people’s work is the path to success. Simply reproducing the work of others robs you of your imagination and form-making abilities.
via Print Magazine by Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser created the iconic I ♥ NY campaign
The Art and Design community has been weighing in on the case and opinions are all over the board. Below are a handful of examples from both sides.
For: DesignNotes – Michael Surtees, Althouse – Ann Althouse, Huffington Post – Jonathan Melber
Against: myartspace – Brian Sherwin, Print Magazine – Milton Glaser
Balanced: NY Times – Randy Kennedy
So what does this mean for your church or ministry?
Be careful in your quest to be relevant! I am a huge fan and advocate of contextualized ministry and pulling from daily life and culture. But be careful in the images and logos you use. Give credit where it is due (by lines are huge here). While churches have generally been immune from this pressure (mainly due to the lack of money churches generate) it doesn’t mean we should ignore the law. So what to do…
More than anything else, if you are doing a mailer or very public promotional piece make it original in every detail (you can still play off pop-culture). OR make sure you have the rights to everything in it. Even ambient music in the background of a video is subject to copyright laws and licensing. It might seem necessary, but many times is not.
For internal projects (things shown on Sunday morning) I wouldn’t worry quite as much about this. However know that if you play a section of a film, and then podcast the audio from it you are liable for that copyright. So just cut out the audio before posting it online (your sermons shouldn’t need the video as a main point anyway).
If you don’t have a volunteer/staff who can stay kind of up to date on copyright law and fair use find someone. It will likely help if you do land in court to show you have a check/balance system in place and aren’t just willy-nilly stealing intellectual property left and right for the sake of God.
To recap:
- Public Work: Make it as original as possible
- Internal Work: Be very careful, but don’t worry as much.
- Get a Copyright/Fair Use Liaison
February 26th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
[...] about two weeks ago we wrote about the legal case around the image the iconic Obama hope poster was created from. It is an issue of what constitutes fair use, and what is copyright [...]