Hasta La Ideas

Now that one part of the Shepard Fairey vs. the Associated Press ordeal is over, with photographer Mannie Garcia withdrawing his suit against the AP, it’s time to get back to the main event. A trial has finally been set, beginning March 21st in New York and expected to take three weeks. While still facing possible criminal charges for falsifying information and erasing evidence, this trial will concentrate solely on the AP’s allegations that Fairey used a photograph, taken by Garcia, that the AP holds the copyright to and was not credited or paid by the artist for its reuse in his now-iconic Barack Obama poster. Neither Fairey or his lawyers have said much about how they intend to fight the suit, though one of his attorneys gave a quick peek, according to the AP’s report on their appearance in court this week as the trial dates were arranged:

One of Fairey’s lawyers, Geoffrey Stewart, told the judge that Fairey will show at trial how he made the Obama image, calling it a work of art based on one photograph.

“This isn’t like some copyright case that involves hundreds of this and hundreds of that,” he said. “It’s really quite simple.”

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