Shepard Fairey the artist behind the iconic Obama Hope portrait has found himself immersed in a sticky copyright dispute over the rights to the original photograph he downloaded from Google. The call for royalty rights from Associated Press has lead Fairly to take out pre-emptive legal action in a case that could have dire impact on artists, photographers and the general public alike.

Famous for questioning authority, Fairey claims the lawsuit against AP for the use of photojournalist Mannie Garcia’s picture of Obama under fair use action will ensure that the grass-root culture of this ‘transformation’ art will stay accessible to everyone. 

The photo taken at a Clooney family benefit to raise awareness about Darfur in 2006 was not intended to feature Obama and was before he was running for president. Making way for Fairey’s fair use claim that the art forms’ nature and intent were different, the original being a factual news report and the second a creative political statement.

Garcia who himself admits at first he did not realise Fairly’s portrait was created from his own argues just because his photos are readily available on the internet does not mean they are open for the taking. And to deepen the saga it turns out Garcia is embroiled in his own legal battle with AP over the original rights to the photograph disputing whether he was working for AP at the time.

The ruling could have a major impact not only on artist and photographers functions but also on the general internet public as creators/ infringers of the laws. An added dimension to the case will defiantly feature the recent outraged reaction of Facebook users after their authorial interests over content ownership were at stake.