Mannie Garcia: Freelance Photographer Infringed?

Shepard Fairey says he used this photo by Mannie Garcia, taken April 27, 2006 at the National Press Club, for the Obama ‘Hope’ poster. Fairey cropping out actor George Clooney and changing the tilt of Obama’s head. [Photo by Mannie Garcia/AP/NPR]

Mannie Garcia: The Photo That Sparked ‘Hope’NPR 922609:

In April 2006, Associated Press photographer Mannie Garcia took a batch of photos of then-Sen. Barack Obama at a National Press Club discussion about the crisis in Darfur. One of those photographs later became the basis for Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” poster, an image that came to be intimately associated with Obama’s campaign.

Recently, the AP threatened to sue Fairey over the photo, charging that Fairey’s use of Garcia’s original infringed the AP’s copyright; Fairey’s lawyers themselves filed a preemptive lawsuit, arguing that the work he created based on that image is protected under the so-called “Fair Use” provisions of copyright law.

Garcia has photographed news events for Bloomberg, Reuters, The New York Times, and Newsweek. He’s worked in countries around the world, including the U.S., Somalia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and the Philippines. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the dispute.

NPR Fresh Air 022609: Shepard Fairey | Mannie Garcia | Greg Lastowka