The Associated Press vs. Fairey
During President Obama’s first run for presidential election in 2008, Shephard Fairey (a well known street artist) created the Hope poster that quickly became a symbol for Obama’s campaign as it was unofficially endorsed.
The photograph on which Fairey allegedly based the design was revealed by the Associated Press in January 2009 as one shot by freelancer Mannie Garcia that was licensed to Associate Press exclusively. The Associated Press demanded compensation for the use of the photograph in Fairey’s work while Fairey’s defense was fair use as he claimed that his work did not reduce the value of the original photograph.
The outcome was a private settlement between the parties in January 2011 part of which included a split of the profits generated by the work. Garcia stated he was “so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it has had,” but still had a problem with the fact that Fairey took the image without permission and without credit for it’s originator.
Even tough this case was settled outside the court, it holds great significance as it created an interesting context around fair use and shed some light on this gray area. Surely Fairey’s work brought a lot more exposure to Garcia’s photograph that corresponds to more earnings that Garcia would not have access to without Fairey’s work. Estimating the influence of each party and determining the financial splits might not be an easy task especially when negotiated after the success. What we do learn from this case is that it is always better to get the consent of the original artist before incorporating their work into a new work of art and whatever the case, give credit where credit is due.
David Bowie/Freddie Mercury vs. Vanilla Ice
In 1991 Vanilla Ice releases Ice Ice Baby that became a massive hit but it didn’t take long for Queen and David Bowie’s lawyers to react as Vanilla Ice sampled a very distinctive melody without giving credit.
At first Vanilla Ice denied that the beat was sampled but later retracted his statement dismissing it as a joke, confessed to sampling and the case was settled privately out of court with Ice paying an undeclared sum of money and crediting Bowie/Queen on the track.