A PHOTO FINISH?

COPYRIGHT AND SHEPARD FAIREY’S

USE OF A NEWS PHOTO IMAGE OF THE PRESIDENT

Shelly Rosenfeld*†

Most importantly, I am fighting the AP to protect the rights of all

artists, especially those with a desire to make art with social commentary.
This is about artistic freedom and basic rights of free expression, which
need to be available to all, whether they have money and lawyers or not.1

–Shepard Fairey

The journalism that AP and other organizations produce is vital to

democracy. To continue to provide it, news organizations must protect their
intellectual property rights as vigorously as they have historically fought to
protect the First Amendment.2

–Press Release, Associated Press

INTRODUCTION

During the 2008 campaign, an image featuring then-presidential

candidate Barack Obama’s photo became the subject of a legal dispute that
continued long after the election ended. Amidst the presidential debates,
another debate was brewing—between a famous visual artist, Shepard
Fairey, and a major newsgathering agency, the Associated Press (AP). An
AP photographer, Mannie Garcia, took the picture of the presidential
hopeful, which Fairey popularized on posters that he emblazoned with the
word “Hope.” Once it was determined that Fairey had used AP
photographer Mannie Garcia’s image of presidential candidate Obama in
his posters, the issue in Fairey v. Associated Press was whether Fairey’s
use of the photo constituted “fair use,” an affirmative defense under the
Copyright Act.3 If so, Fairey’s “fair use” would excuse the copyright

* Member, California State Bar; LL.M. 2011, UCLA Law School; J.D. 2010, University of
California, Hastings College of the Law; Masters of Science in Journalism, 2004, Northwestern
University; Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, Mass Communications, 2003, University of California,
Berkeley.
† I would like to thank Professor David Nimmer for his wisdom and insightful comments on
developing this Essay.
1. Shepard Fairey, The AP, Obama, & Referencing, HUFFINGTON POST (Mar. 26, 2009, 12:18
PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shepard-fairey/the-ap-obama-referencing_b_ 179562.html.
2. Press Release, Assoc. Press, Associated Press Defends Lawsuit Brought by Shepard Fairey
over Obama Poster (Mar. 11, 2009), available at http://www.ap.org/pages/about/press
releases/pr_031109.html (quoting Tom Curley, President and CEO of Associated Press).
3. Complaint at 1, Fairey v. Assoc. Press, No. 09 Civ. 01123 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2009), 2009
356 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

infringement and Fairey would not have to pay. If not, Fairey would be
liable for copyright infringement and would likely have to pay damages.
Although Fairey settled the lawsuit with the AP in January 2011,4
another lawsuit was still pending—that of the AP against Fairey’s clothing
company, “Obey Clothing” and other clothing stores (Urban Outfitters,
Nordstrom, and Zumiez) for copyright infringement.5 The parties, however,
settled their claims in March 2011.6 In the settlement agreements, the
parties explicitly stated that they still maintain their legal positions in the
case.7 Thus, the dispute about whether Fairey’s use of the photo constituted
fair use has never been resolved. Although the settlement agreement stated
that the AP and Obey Clothing agreed to share future profits from sales of
the Obama image on merchandise,8 the underlying issue is still very much
alive. The case between Fairey and the AP is certainly timely and addresses
copyright in the context of news photos. This issue will continue to be
relevant given that President Obama is the likely Democratic candidate for
the 2012 presidential election, and it is certainly possible that other
businesses will seek to capitalize on Garcia’s photo. Not only may
businesses seek to capitalize on this image, but the Obama campaign itself
may look to exploit the image, because the image became so iconic in the
2008 election.
Moreover, as opposed to prior case law concerning appropriation of art,
this set of facts incorporates new media. “It has become especially
important in an era when digital technology allows artists to, with the press
of a few buttons, use other people’s finished products as raw material for
new works.”9 Fair use case law can certainly be applied to cases in the
digital area. The best way to predict the outcome of the AP suit against

WL 319564; 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2006) (“[T]he fair use of a copyrighted work . . . is not an infringement of
copyright.”).
4. The settlement agreement between Fairey and the AP included the provision that Fairey
will first obtain a license from the AP if he would like to incorporate an AP photo in his art. Press
Release, Assoc. Press, Obama ‘HOPE’ Artist and AP Settle Copyright Claims (Jan. 12, 2011), available
at http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_011211a.html.
5. Larry Neumeister, AP Sues Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom Over Obama ‘Hope’ Poster Use,
HUFFINGTON POST (Mar. 11, 2011, 6:46 PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com /2011/03/11/ap-urban-
obama_n_834785.html.
6. Press Release, Assoc. Press, The Associated Press and Obey Clothing Settle Copyright
Infringement Suit (Mar. 16, 2011), available at http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_0316
11b.html.
7. Basil Katz, Artist and News Wire Settle Obama Portrait Suit, REUTERS, Jan. 12, 2011,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/12/us-obama-portrait-settlement-idUSTRE70B66 R20110112.
8. Assoc. Press, supra note 6.
9. Editorial, A Poster Child for Fair Use: In a Surprise Move, Shepard Fairey Settles with the
Associated Press over the Obama ‘Hope’ Poster, L.A. TIMES, Jan. 17, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/
2011/jan/17/opinion/la-ed-fairey-20110117.
2011] A Photo Finish? 357

Fairey’s company is to understand how the court might have ruled in the
original case—that of the AP against Fairey personally.
This Essay will explore whether Fairey’s use of the AP Photographer’s
photo constituted “fair use” and will analyze how the relevant fair use cases
would bear on the present case. The AP originally asked to be credited and
to receive compensation.10 First, I will introduce and explain the fair use
four-factor approach laid out in section 107 of the Copyright Act. Second, I
will discuss how fair use case law, such as Rogers v. Koons, Campbell v.
Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation
Enterprises, Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. Penguin Books, Leibovitz v.
Paramount Pictures Corp., enhances our understanding of these factors.
Finally, this Essay will analyze the Obama Hope Poster case in the context
of the four factors and arrive at a conclusion based on case law and public
policy.

I. WHETHER CASE LAW WOULD MAKE THE IMAGE “A POSTER CHILD FOR
FAIR USE ” 11

Fair use is an affirmative defense against copyright infringement.12 A

court may rule that the person does not violate another’s exclusive rights in
their work granted by the Copyright Act if the alleged infringer uses the
work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching
(including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.” 13
Section 107 of the Copyright Act sets forth four factors that courts must
balance in order to evaluate whether a work would be considered fair use:

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such
use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational
purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to

the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work.14

10. Assoc. Press, supra note 2.

11. Editorial, supra note 9.
12. Copyright Act § 107, 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2006).
13. Id.
14. Id.
358 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

Copyright scholar Tim Wu has, in his article, Is There “Hope” for

Shepard Fairey?, outlined additional categories that courts and legislatures
have traditionally declared to be “fair use,” including: “Quotations of
reasonable length,” “Parody (but not satire),” “Use in news reporting,”
“Time-shifting (recording TV for later viewing),” “Thumbnailing (resizing)
for image search engines,” “Reverse-engineering for a new operating
platform (figuring out what you need to do to write a game that works on a
Sony Playstation),” and “Limited copying for classroom or educational
use.”15

A. Photo-Copying?

Case law involving the fair use affirmative defense incorporates

analysis of these four factors. In Rogers v. Koons, the Second Circuit Court
of Appeals held that an artist who copied from a photo could be liable for
infringement when there was no need to imitate the photo for parody
purposes.16 Thus, the court ruled in favor of the photographer. Art Rogers
was a professional photographer who took a picture of his friends holding
their puppies, aptly titled “Puppies.”17 Rogers used his professional
judgment and skill to create the photograph.18 Jeff Koons, an artist, in
preparation for his “Banality Show,”19 removed the section that featured
Rogers’s copyright and proceeded to have his artists use the photo as a
subject for his sculpture.20 Koons raised the affirmative defense of fair use,
alleging that his sculptures were a parody of the photo.21 He claimed that

he belongs to the school of American artists who believe the

mass production of commodities and media images has caused a
deterioration in the quality of society, and this artistic tradition of
which he is a member proposes through incorporating these
images into works of art to comment critically both on the
incorporated object and the political and economic system that
created it.22

15. Tim Wu, Is There “Hope” for Shepard Fairey?, SLATE (Oct. 21, 2009, 4:47 PM),
http://www.slate.com/id/2233152/.
16. Rogers v. Koons, 960 F.2d 301, 304 (2d Cir. 1992).
17. Id.
18. Id.
19. Id.
20. Id. at 305.
21. Id. at 309
22. Id. at 309.
2011] A Photo Finish? 359

The court did not find fair use, however, because he could have achieved
the purpose of the sculpture without copying the specific image.23 “If an
infringement of copyrightable expression could be justified as fair use
solely on the basis of the infringer’s claim to a higher or different artistic
use—without insuring public awareness of the original work—there would
be no practicable boundary to the fair use defense.”24
Koons, much like Fairey, was a famous artist.25 According to the court,
the fact that Koons tore off the section that stated Rogers’s copyright
showed bad faith and displayed that the purpose and character of the use
likely was commercial, rather than to elevate the public discourse.26
Similarly, the fact that Fairey had, ironically, sued others in the past for
copyright infringement, and in the present case, sued the AP for a
declaratory judgment asking the court to approve his use of the AP’s image,
shows a for-profit motive, rather than merely expressing a contribution to
the political dialogue about a presidential candidate. The “AP asserts that
Fairey’s unauthorized use of its photo ‘is part and parcel of [Fairey’s]
willful practice of ignoring the property rights of others for his own
commercial advancement,’ and that the practice ‘contrasts dramatically
with his aggressive and hypocritical enforcement against others of his own
intellectual property rights.’”27 Moreover, Koons admitted that he
intentionally copied the copyrighted photo, much like Fairey eventually
admitted that he copied Garcia’s photo, after first hiding that fact.28
While Koons took the image from the photo and directed his artists to
make sculptures out of it,29 Fairey put the image on posters, and later,
through his Obey Clothing company, put the image on merchandise. The
AP has claimed that for a year and a half starting from March 2008, Obey
Clothing sold more than 200,000 items with the Obama Hope Poster image
based on Garcia’s photo.30 Obey Clothing sold merchandise with the image
from the poster, much as Koons made hundreds of thousands of dollars
from selling his sculptures. Both artists profited from their infringement.
Thus, under the Koons analysis, the AP would likely prevail against
Fairey’s claim of fair use.

23. Id. at 310.

24. Id.
25. Id. at 304.
26. Id. at 309.
27. Assoc. Press, supra note 2 (alteration in original).
28. Randy Kennedy, Fight Over Obama ‘Hope’ Image Is Settled, N.Y. TIMES ARTSBEAT
BLOG (Jan. 12, 2011, 11:55 AM), http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/ fight-over-obama-hope-
image-is-settled/.
29. Rogers, 960 F.2d at 305.
30. Larry Neumeister, Shepard Fairey vs. AP Lawsuit Dropped, HUFFINGTON POST (Jan. 11, 2011,
8:53 PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/shepard-fairey-ap-suit-dropped_n_807800 .html.
360 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

B. Parody

Pretty Woman, walking down the street,

Pretty Woman, the kind I like to meet,
Pretty Woman, I don't believe you, you’re not the truth,
No one could look as good as you
Mercy31

–Lyrics to Roy Orbison and William Dees’s song, “Oh, Pretty Woman”

Pretty woman walkin’ down the street

Pretty woman girl you look so sweet
Pretty woman you bring me down to that knee
Pretty woman you make me wanna beg please
Oh, pretty woman 32

–Lyrics to 2 Live Crew’s song, “Pretty Woman”

The dispute involving these two sets of lyrics, those from “Oh, Pretty
Woman” and “Pretty Woman” got ugly when Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.,
which held the rights to “Oh, Pretty Woman” decided to sue 2 Live Crew
for copyright infringement. 2 Live Crew notified Acuff-Rose that it was
making the song and offered to pay for the song’s use, but Acuff-Rose
refused to give permission for its use.33 In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music,
Inc.,34 the Supreme Court held that parody constitutes fair use under section
107 of the Copyright Act. While it is clear that there was a prima facie case
of copyright infringement, fair use provides a safety net. In its analysis, the
Court focused its discussion on the first factor of section 107, “the purpose
and character of the use,”35 that is, whether the purpose was to make a
profit.
The issue in Acuff-Rose was to what extent the new work was
“transformative,” meaning that the new work adds “something new, with a
further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression,
meaning, or message.”36 The Court determined that the “threshold
question . . . is whether a parodic character may reasonably be perceived.” 37
The Court ruled that parody was protected as fair use under section 107,

31. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 app. at 594–95 (1994).
32. Id. app. at 595–96.
33. Id. at 572.
34. Id. app. at 594.
35. Id. at 578–85 (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 107(1) (2006)).
36. Id. at 579.
37. Id. at 582.
2011] A Photo Finish? 361

because it is transformative, much like “comment or criticism.”38 The Court

decided that 2 Live Crew’s song “reasonably could be perceived as
commenting on . . . or criticizing [the original work].”39 One interpretation
has been that 2 Live Crew’s version “comment[ed] on the naïveté of the
original of an earlier day, [rejecting] its sentiment that ignores the ugliness
of street life and the debasement that it signifies.”40 The second factor of the
fair use analysis is a simple inquiry: whether the nature of the original
copyrighted work is a creative expression or more like a recitation of
facts.41 The Court held that the second factor was not of much assistance in
this case, or “ever likely to help much in separating the fair use sheep from
the infringing goats in a parody case, since parodies almost invariably copy
publicly known, expressive works.”42 It was undisputed that the nature of
the original song, “Oh, Pretty Woman,” was creative expression.43
Therefore, the second factor could not be used in support of fair use.
The Court determined that, when evaluating the third factor, “the
amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted
work as a whole44. . . [was] reasonable in relation to the purpose of the
copying.”45 In making this determination, a court does not only consider the
quantity of the original work taken, but also the quality, how much of the
essence of the original copyrighted work was appropriated.46 Even if 2 Live
Crew’s copying of the original’s first line of lyrics and characteristic
opening bass riff “may be said to go to the ‘heart’ of the original, the heart
is also what most readily conjures up the song for parody, and it is the heart
at which parody takes aim.”47 While 2 Live Crew copied the first line of
Roy Orbison’s song, the rest was very different. Thus, the Court held that
the third factor weighed in favor of 2 Live Crew.48
Finally, the Court considered the fourth factor, the effect of the fair use
upon the market of the copyrighted work and the market for derivative

38. Id. at 579 (citing Fisher v. Dees, 794 F.2d 432 (9th Cir. 1986); Elsmere Music, Inc. v. Nat’l
Broadcasting Co., 482 F. Supp. 741 (S.D.N.Y. 1980), aff’d, 623 F.2d 252 (2d Cir. 1980)).
39. Id. at 583.
40. Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109, 113 (2d Cir. 1998) (quoting Acuff-
Rose, 510 U.S. at 583).
41. Id. at 155.
42. Acuff-Rose, 510 U.S. at 586.
43. Id.
44. Id. (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 107(3) (2006)).
45. Id. at 576, 586 (“[We] look to the nature and objects of the selections made, the quantity
and value of the material used, and the degree in which the use may prejudice the sale, or diminish the
profits, or supersede the objects, of the original work.” (quoting Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F. Cas. 342, 348
(C.C.D. Mass. 1841) (No. 4,901)).
46. Acuff-Rose, 510 U.S. at 586–89.
47. Id. at 588.
48. Id. at 590.
362 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

works based upon the copyrighted work.49 When examining what the
market for derivative works really means, the Court stated that “there is no
protectible derivative market for criticism.”50 While there may be a market
to license song parodies in general, the Court held that “[t]he market for
potential derivative uses includes only those that creators of original works
would in general develop or license others to develop.”51 Roy Orbison
could not argue that he was going to market his song to those who would
seek to criticize it. Thus, the Court ruled in favor of 2 Live Crew, saying
their song was parody and protected under fair use.52
This is perhaps one of the keys to unlocking how a court would rule in
the dispute between Fairey and the AP. Fairey’s work did not criticize the
AP’s image. The AP owns the copyright to the Obama photo and owns the
potential derivative use of the photo. In order to be a potential derivative
use of the photo, however, it would have to be a use that the photographer
would either license others to develop or develop himself. Thus, the issue is
whether by creating the poster Fairey infringed that derivative use. In the
present case, the AP’s own business model subsists from licensing
revenues. “Every year, more than a million AP images are licensed by
magazines, internet sites, TV shows, book publishers, merchandisers, and
others.”53 This shows that it is common for the AP to license photos for use
on objects for sale. Since the AP licensed a copy of an AP photo of
President Obama for use on a shopping bag,54 it follows that the AP would
have a market for licensing another AP photo of President Obama. Thus,
the AP could successfully make the argument that Fairey had caused that
news agency market harm.
Another example where a court found parody and thus applied the fair
use affirmative defense involved the use of a photo. In Leibovitz v.
Paramount Pictures Corp., Annie Leibovitz, a world-renowned
photographer, snapped a photo of actress Demi Moore, which appeared on
the front cover of the magazine Vanity Fair.55 The photo received great
attention because Moore was featured naked and seven months pregnant.
To attract attention to its movie, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult,
Paramount Pictures’ promotional poster had Leslie Nielsen’s face
superimposed on a pregnant and naked woman’s body, and under the

49. Id. at 590–94.

50. Id. at 592.
51. Id.
52. Id. at 594.
53. FAQs: Protecting AP’s Intellectual Property, ASSOC. PRESS, http://www.ap.org/iprights/
faq.html#10 (last visited Dec. 1, 2011).
54. Id.
55. Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109, 111 (2d Cir. 1998).
2011] A Photo Finish? 363

image, the poster stated, “DUE THIS MARCH.”56 The image was quite
clearly made to look as similar as possible to the Demi Moore piece. In
other words, the whole point of the movie poster, which aimed to call
attention to the comedic nature of the film, was to intentionally refer to the
iconic photo.
The Second Circuit found the movie poster to be a parody and a case of
fair use. For the first factor, the court took great pains to emphasize that
what makes the second work a parody, or transformative, is not that it is
different from the earlier work. In the Naked Gun case, the ad “differs in a
way that may reasonably be perceived as commenting, through ridicule, on
what a viewer might reasonably think is the undue self-importance
conveyed by the subject of the Leibovitz photograph.”57 The court did
consider the fact that the copying of the image was used for a commercial
purpose, such as to attract potential moviegoers to see the film.58 On
balance, however, the court said that the first factor came out more strongly
in favor of Paramount.59 The first factor can be applied against Fairey in the
dispute over the Obama Hope Poster, since the fact that the poster is
different from the photo is not enough. Far from ridiculing the photo, the
poster does not even comment on it. This is a relatively low threshold,
given that the value of parody, at its minimum, is to refer to the original
work to contrast the familiar with the different interpretation that the second
work offers.
Leibovitz’s photo of Demi Moore is clearly creative expression,
meeting the requirements of the second factor. The court did not find the
second factor to serve as the guidepost in the case, “since parodies almost
invariably copy publicly known, expressive works.”60 Thus, on the second
factor, Leibovitz prevailed. The third factor, the amount and significance of
the portion copied of the copyrighted work, was challenging, since parody
requires the “recognizable allusion to its object through distorted
imitation.”61 Another fact that weighed against Paramount Pictures was that
the photographer took much of the expression of the photograph. Much like
the Obama Hope Poster,

[t]he copying of elements, [such as posing of the subjects,

lighting, angle, selection of film and camera, evoking the desired
expression, and almost any other variant involved] 62 carried out

56. Id.
57. Id. at 114.
58. Id. at 115.
59. Id.
60. Id. at 113 (quoting Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 586 (1994)).
61. Id. at 114 (quoting Acuff-Rose, 510 U.S. at 588).
62. Id. at 116 (quoting Rogers v. Koons, 960 F.2d 301, 307 (2d Cir. 1992)).
364 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

to an extreme degree by the technique of digital computer

enhancement, took more of the Leibovitz photograph than was
minimally necessary to conjure it up.63

Certain elements in the original 2006 photo of Obama—the lighting, the

angle, the posing, the camera and film that Garcia selected, and capturing
the specific expression, as well as other techniques that the photographer
used to capture that moment on film—are all part of what makes the photo
copyrightable. Fairey, using his techniques, perhaps digital like in Leibovitz,
took more of Garcia’s photo than was needed to capture Obama’s face for a
poster.
For the last factor, the Leibovitz court stated that there was no market
harm to Leibovitz’s work.64 In other words, the movie poster did not reduce
the consumer demand for the Demi Moore photo or derivative works based
on the photo. Leibovitz claimed that the market harm was that the Leslie
Nielsen movie poster denied her the opportunity to collect a licensing fee
for the use.65 The court, however, determined that much like Acuff-Rose’s
statement, “there is no protectible derivative market for criticism.”66 Thus,
Leibovitz was not entitled to any revenues because the criticism that the
Nielsen poster image evoked was not a market that Leibovitz would have
ever targeted.67 Therefore, Paramount prevailed as to the fourth factor.
Given that Paramount had a purpose of parody, the court found the use to
be fair and Paramount won the case.

C. Limits on Fair Use

If the following phrase, “One Knife? / Two Knife? / Red Knife / Dead
Wife”68 from the book, The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody by Dr. Juice,
sounds familiar, it may be because the authors modeled it after, “One fish /
two fish / red fish / blue fish,” from the Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the
Hat.69 The authors of the book discussing the O.J. Simpson trial in a Dr.
Seuss-type writing style asserted a fair use defense, claiming that their work
was a parody.70 But the court in Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. Penguin Books,
did not find that the O.J. Simpson book was a parody and referred to this

63. Id. at 116.

64. Id.
65. Id. at 116–17.
66. Acuff-Rose, 510 U.S. at 592.
67. Leibovitz, 137 F.3d at 116 n.6.
68. Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc., 109 F.3d 1394, 1401 (9th Cir. 1997).
69. Id.
70. Id. at 1399.
2011] A Photo Finish? 365

justification as “pure shtick.”71 The court held that there was no parody
because the O.J. Simpson tale did not make fun of Dr. Seuss’s book but
rather used the style to get attention.72
For the first factor, the Ninth Circuit held that the O.J. Simpson version
merely imitated the Dr. Seuss writing style and that the book’s text was in
no way transformative. The court used examples of the book’s text, such as
the following excerpt, to show that in fact the O.J. Simpson book was not
criticizing Dr. Seuss’s writing technique or body of work.73 Rather the book
“broadly mimic[ked] Dr. Seuss’ characteristic style” in order to present the
story behind the O.J. Simpson case:

A happy town
Inside L.A.
Where rich folks play
The day away.
But under the moon
The 12th of June.
Two victims flail
Assault! Assail!
74
Somebody will go to jail!

Therefore, the first factor was not met, and the court ruled in favor of Dr.
Seuss Enterprises.
Because the second factor is generally not dispositive in fair use cases,
the court only briefly addressed the issue. The Ninth Circuit stated that Dr.
Seuss’s book, The Cat in the Hat, had “the creativity, imagination and
originality” that copyright law is designed to protect.75 Thus, the court also
ruled in favor of Dr. Seuss as to this factor. The entire purpose of the fair
use defense in allowing one to quote from an existing work for a parody is
so that the parody may comment on the earlier work, not that the second
work would merely reap the benefits that the earlier work had sown. Thus,
the court was not swayed by the reasons that the publishers offered for the
third factor in the fair use defense analysis and also ruled in favor of Dr.
Seuss Enterprises.76
Finally, the publishing company of the O.J. Simpson book did not
offer counter-evidence to rebut the inference that there was market harm as
a result of the non-transformative nature of the work. The court therefore

71. Id. at 1403.

72. Id. at 1404–05.
73. Id. at 1401.
74. Id.
75. Id. at 1402.
76. Id.
366 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

sided with Dr. Seuss Enterprises on this factor, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises
prevailed in the case.77
Much like prose in The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody by Dr. Juice, the
Obama Hope Poster was not a parody of its source photograph. The Obama
Hope Poster did not comment upon Garcia’s original photograph. In fact,
the AP has an even stronger case than Dr. Seuss’s estate, because The Cat
NOT in the Hat! copied Dr. Seuss’s distinctive style but not the actual
words, whereas Fairey incorporated Garcia’s photo into his piece.
Another limit upon fair use occurred when the Supreme Court held that
the publication of portions of a work soon to be published does not
constitute fair use. In Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises,
President Gerald Ford gave the rights to his memoirs, A Time to Heal, to
Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. Time Magazine paid for a license to print a
section of the book in its own magazine.78 However, before Time had an
opportunity to publish its review, The Nation magazine obtained a copy of
the text and proceeded to write an article including an extensive quote from
the section of the book on pardoning Nixon.79 This led Time to cancel the
agreement with the book’s publisher.80 The Supreme Court held that
publishing a part of the book that was about to be published anyway was
not fair use.81 Stating that there is no “public figure exception to
copyright,”82 the Court focused on two factors of section 107, the purpose
of the use and the effect on the market.
The second factor in determining whether an alleged copyright
violation qualifies for the fair use exemption is “the nature of the
copyrighted work.”83 The “nature” refers to whether the original work in
question is predominantly a creative expression or simply a recitation of
facts.84 If an alleged copyright infringer copies facts, such as in the case of
news reporting, then fair use can generally be successfully asserted.
All four factors, however, must be considered in making a
determination in each case of alleged copyright infringement, and news
reporting does not in and of itself represent an ironclad category of fair use
in all situations. While the purpose of The Nation’s use of the quotations
was for the purposes of a news story, if the four-factor analysis is not met,
then the news reporting does not allow the infringer to use the statutory

77. Id. at 1403.

78. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539, 542 (1985).
79. Id. at 543.
80. Id.
81. Id. at 554.
82. Id. at 560.
83. 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2006).
84. Rachael L. Shinoskie, In Defense of Fairey and Fair Use, 28 SPG ENT. & SPORTS LAW 16,
17–18 (2010).
2011] A Photo Finish? 367

defense of fair use to block infringement liability. “The promise of

copyright would be an empty one if it could be avoided merely by dubbing
the infringement a fair use ‘news report’ of the book.”85 Publishing part of a
book before it is being sold has a direct effect on the market, since if
readers can read the juiciest parts before the book comes out, then it is
bound to hurt sales for the original text. This relates to the Obama Hope
Poster case because, “[a]ccording to [the AP’s] counterclaim, the value of
the photo has been substantially harmed by the creation of the poster
because the AP is effectively prevented from licensing the image for
commercial and noncommercial use all over the world.”86

II. THE AUDACITY OF THE HOPE POSTER

So how would a court evaluate the Obama Hope Poster? In

consideration of factor one, the court would likely find the poster
transformative. The AP photographer snapped the photo of Obama while at
an event with actor George Clooney in 2006.87 In 2009, Fairey asserted that
the source photo for his poster was one featuring both Clooney and
Obama.88 Fairey later admitted, however, that his source photo was a
different photo from that same event: a close-up photo featuring Obama
only.89 The purpose of that photo was to illustrate a news story, not for art.
Fairey did not intend to make the poster for a news story. After all, Fairey
took a photo from a news journalist and made it into a political poster.
Those advancing the argument that the poster was transformative would
argue that “[t]he poster that resulted was no longer a straightforward news
photograph of Obama, but a stylized, blue pencil drawing that conveys an
entirely different feel, a different Obama and which mimics the propaganda
posters of the mid-20th century.”90 The AP’s counterclaim in 2009,
however, asserted that “[the poster does] not alter any of the distinctive
characteristics that make the Obama photo so striking.”91 The question
remains whether there is anything redeeming about the use.

85. Harper & Row Publishers, 471 U.S. at 557 (citing Wainwright Sec., Inc. v. Wall St.
Transcript Corp., 558 F.2d 91, 95–96 (2d Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1014 (1978)).
86. Jo-Na Williams, The New Symbol of ‘Hope’ For Fair Use: Shepard Fairey v. The
Associated Press, LANDSLIDE, Sept./Oct. 2009, at 55, 59.
87. Hope Viner Samborn, Opening Statement, Hope for Copyright, A.B.A J., May 2009, at 11,
available at http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/hope_for_copyright.
88. Shinoskie, supra note 84, at 16.
89. Id.
90. Editorial, supra note 9.
91. Answer at 13, Fairey v. Assoc. Press, No. 09 Civ. 01123 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 11, 2009), 2009
WL 648762.
368 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

Factor two is the nature of copyrighted work. The photo is an

expressive work of authorship because the photo was taken by a
photographer, and it has expression. Fairey said that he did not make the
Obama Hope Poster for the purpose of making money but rather as a
campaign poster to get Obama elected.92 It is clear that Fairey did support
Obama’s election as president, and there is no reason to doubt that he used
some revenue from the posters to create additional ones as well as to donate
to the campaign. Perhaps Fairey’s argument would be more convincing if
he had worked with the campaign from the beginning. Or, for example, if
he had created his own non-profit, the sole objective of which was to create
and distribute promotional campaign materials to help Obama get elected.
Instead, Fairey’s artwork is exactly what is printed on merchandise for the
Obey Clothing company.93 Moreover, if Fairey was not interested in
making money, why did he not initially agree to a licensing fee, and pay the
AP some amount, to make sure to have no hurdles to make the photo into a
poster, and then pay the rest of the proceeds to the Obama campaign?
Fairey’s enormous success with the “Obey Giant” poster and the fact
that he created the “Obey Clothing” company proves that he knows the
market value of his creations can be very lucrative. The fact that Fairey
supported Obama’s candidacy for president is not incongruent with the
incentive to make money from the creation. Fairey has written that he
would love to have the influence to get political leaders to agree to sit for
him, and then he would not have to use a reference photo.94 Given Fairey’s
notoriety, professed support for Obama’s election campaign, and later
collaboration with Obama’s campaign staff, however, Fairey could have
explored the option of having Obama sit down for a portrait once the
election campaign began. While it might not be the same exact pose as the
original photo, this is the price that Fairey might have to pay if he does not
want to pay for the original photo itself.
Factor three is the amount taken relative to the whole. Based on the
observation of the photo and of the Obama Hope Poster, it is visually
apparent that Fairey utilized the entire image in his work. This is an issue
that would likely have been extensively litigated. On the one hand, Fairey
asserted that he did not need permission to use a photo as a source for his
art.95 On the other hand, the Obama Hope Poster copied many of the artistic
elements that made Garcia’s photograph of Obama unique, such as
Obama’s pose, angle, and lighting. These components, and others, such as

92. Fairey, supra note 1.

93. Kari Hamanaka, Clothes Maker Obey Expanding in Irvine, ORANGE COUNTY BUS. J., Jan.
30, 2011, http://www.ocbj.com/news/2011/jan/30/clothes-maker-obey-expanding-irvine/.
94. Fairey, supra note 1.
95. Id.
2011] A Photo Finish? 369

the selection of the film and camera, were all the mechanisms that made the
photo capture a distinctive moment of Obama’s expression. Thus, Fairey’s
copying of the expressive elements of the photograph took more “than was
minimally necessary to conjure it up.”96 In Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the court
held that since The Cat NOT in the Hat! did not comment upon the original
work, the work was not fair use. Using Dr. Seuss’s stylistic devices, even
without copying Dr. Seuss’s specific text, was infringement.97 In the Obama
Hope Poster case, Fairey’s poster did not comment upon the original photo,
and he actually used the entire photo’s image in his piece, so a court should
rule in the AP’s favor on this factor.
Factor four, “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or
value of the copyrighted work”98 not only refers to the harm to the market
of the original work, such as the market for the photo, but also “[t]he
market for potential derivative uses.”99 Derivative use “includes only those
that creators of original works would in general develop or license others to
develop.”100 For the purposes of the Obama Hope Poster case, this means
that the AP, regardless of whether it actually would license the photo,
would be able to protect its right to exclude another party, like Fairey, from
using the photo without its permission. In general, the creator of an original
work would be able to license it for use in artwork. Rachael L. Shinoskie
argues that the controlling law for the Obama Hope Poster case ought to
derive from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. RDR Books, the Harry
Potter case.101 In Warner Bros., the court held that a dictionary of terms
used in Harry Potter movies was not derivative, but rather transformative,
because it did not act as a sequel or repeat of the movies but had an entirely
different purpose.102 Shinoskie’s argument, however, does not consider the
context of this specific set of facts. The photo was taken for the AP, which
licenses its photos. That is the AP’s business model: to provide for
anticipated and unanticipated uses of its photos in the context of other
creative activity.103 The photo was not merely an end in itself; instead, the
point is that it would be licensed to other entities for use at the same time. A
clear case to decide in favor of Fairey paying a license fee to the AP would
be if Fairey copied an AP photo and printed it on a T-shirt. It is also an easy
case in the present situation, where Fairey used a photo from a licensing

96. Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 137 F.3d 109, 116 (2d Cir. 1998).
97. Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc., 109 F.3d 1394, 1403 (9th Cir. 1997).
98. 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2006).
99. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 592 (1994).
100. Id.
101. Shinoskie, supra note 84, at 19 (citing Warner Bros. Entm’t, Inc. v. RDR Books, 575 F.
Supp. 2d 513, 538 n.17 (S.D.N.Y. 2008)).
102. Id.
103. FAQs: Protecting AP’s Intellectual Property, supra note 53.
370 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

agency. Whether one uses the entire photo for a news story or for a poster,
one should subscribe to the service or pay for the use of that particular
photo.
In addition, Fairey argued that far from taking away a market for the
AP photo, his conduct actually popularized a photo that no one would have
otherwise cared about.104 He stated that a New York City gallery is selling
Garcia’s photo for $1,200.105 Garcia is a freelance photographer, however,
and does not work solely for himself. The AP hired Garcia to take
photographs of the event where he snapped the now-famous photo. AP
Images syndicates photos to nearly every paper in the country.106 The AP
makes money licensing images; that is its market. The way the AP model
works is that, once in awhile, there is an image that hits the jackpot. Such a
famous image is precisely so valuable for the prestige and financial windfall
that it brings the AP—and that is what the AP was asking for: credit and
compensation.
Copyright is about incentivizing creation and also sharing the product
of that creation with the public.107 Before this dispute, most people would
not have known about Mannie Garcia. This photo may be the defining
photo of his career. Most likely, readers of AP articles do not take more
than a moment to glance at the photos accompanying a story. AP
photographers snap many photos, most of which quickly fade into
obscurity. If Fairey wanted to license the image, it would’ve been easy to
do so because the AP is a licensing entity. The AP’s counterclaim notes that
“[l]icensing is an important source of revenue for content creators, be they
news or entertainment companies. This is especially true for The AP and
particularly in these difficult times. As a news agency, licensing of content
is fundamental to The AP’s existence.”108 If Fairey would have won the
lawsuit, it “essentially would permit someone to take and commercialize a
content owner’s property without attribution or reasonable compensation,
undermining the long-established practice of using such revenue streams to
support the ongoing creation of new content.”109 A problem with Fairey
winning in this case is that it would set a dangerous precedent:

104. Fairey, supra note 1.

105. Id.
106. FAQs: Protecting AP’s Intellectual Property, supra note 53.
107. Sarah Handwerger, Shepard Fairey’s Tale: A Missed Opportunity for Copyright
Legislation, RIGHTSPRO BLOG (Jan. 20, 2011, 11:56 AM), http://blog.rightspro.com/2011/01/
20/shepard-faireys-tale-a-missed-opportunity-for-copyright-legislation/.
108. Answer, supra note 91, at 14.
109. Id.
2011] A Photo Finish? 371

When a commercial entity . . . gets something for nothing by

using an AP photo without credit or compensation, it undermines
the AP’s ability to cover the news and devalues the work that our
journalists do, often in dangerous locations where they may
literally risk life and limb to cover a story.110

Section 106 of the Copyright Act spells out the exclusive rights that a
copyright holder has: “to reproduce the copyrighted work,” “to prepare
derivative works based upon the copyrighted work,” “to distribute
copies . . . of the copyrighted work to the public,” “to perform the
copyrighted work publicly,” “to display the copyrighted work publicly,”
and “in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work
publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.”111 The Copyright Act
only allows the copyright holder to have these exclusive rights, and anyone
else who wants such access must get the permission of the copyright
holder.112 The AP is especially equipped to handle transferring such access
through licenses. That is precisely their business model: to provide content
for a business, usually a TV news network or newspaper. The AP would be
equipped to grant a license to Fairey had he asked for it. Even if Fairey had
paid a significant sum, he would have still made a large profit.

CONCLUSION

While fair use is of great importance as a counterbalance to copyright

protection to allow for others to build upon the creativity of others,
copyright law must also offer protections to creators in order to motivate
their ability to create. Although courts are equipped with the four factors,
adjudication on fair use matters is decided on a case-by-case basis. Here, for
both legal and policy reasons, had the case proceeded to trial, a court would
have been wise to rule in favor of the AP. Much like Koons instructed
artists to create sculptures replicating the image in the photo and was found
liable for infringement, Fairey also utilized Garcia’s image on posters and
then on Obey Clothing merchandise. In both cases, the purpose of the
infringing work could have been achieved without the infringement. In
contrast to Acuff-Rose’s holding that someone in Orbison’s position would
not have licensed others to develop a parody of his work, such as 2 Live
Crew’s “Pretty Woman,” in the Obama Hope Poster case, licensing

110. Janon Fisher, ‘Hope’ Poster Lawsuits Spring Eternal, ADWEEK, Mar. 10, 2011,
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/e3ib314536fdecabcee3d304647f1be8f53 (statement
of AP spokesman Paul Colford).
111. 17 U.S.C. § 106 (2006).
112. Id.
372 Vermont Law Review [Vol. 36:355

agencies such as the AP have a market for the selling of licenses to use their
photos and actually utilize this market. As opposed to the Naked Gun 33
1/3: The Final Insult poster in Leibovitz, which the court decided was fair
use, and similar to The Cat NOT in the Hat! in Dr. Seuss, which the court
decided was infringement, the Obama Hope Poster did not criticize or
comment upon Garcia’s photo. Similar to the extensive use of quotations in
Harper & Row Publishers, which damaged the market for the Ford
autobiography, the AP could make the case that the AP’s ability to profit
from licensing the image has been harmed by Fairey’s actions and would be
further harmed were Fairey’s actions considered fair use and utilized by
others to create similar works. These cases, which interpret and apply
section 107 of the Copyright Act, demonstrate that the law should not allow
an artist such as Fairey to avoid obtaining permission, giving credit, and
paying for use of a photo from a news agency. The AP business model is
built upon the licensing of news content and news photos to others,
especially when a photo is to be used for a commercial purpose, or at least,
the advertising for a political candidate.
Had Shepard Fairey paid a fee to the AP instead of to a lawyer, it
seems that he could have obtained permission to use the photo. After all,
Mannie Garcia has stated that he is a fan of Obama, and the AP would have
likely welcomed the additional revenue and the press coverage that the use
of the image would bring. The question really comes down to whose
interest the law protects, between artist and photojournalist, as the above
analysis sets forth, the photojournalist’s interests are overriding, especially
when the photojournalist works for a licensing non-profit news agency.