Judge Urges Shepard Fairey And Associated Press To Settle

I LOVE THIS PHOTO! (HE HAS THAT OH SHIT, I'M CAUGHT RUBY HANDED LOOK ON HIS FACE!!)

Shepard Fairey and Associated Press have been fighting in court for months over whether Fairey infringed AP's copyright when he created the famous Barack Obama 'Hope' poster image. Now the two sides are having a spat over what the judge said in a court hearing about the case today. According to an AP report, Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein said at the hearing that he has a feeling that "whether it's sooner or later, The Associated Press is going to win" the case. He suggested the two sides engage in settlement talks, AP added. But Fairey's attorney, Geoffrey Stewart of the Jones Day law firm in New York issued a statement in response to the AP report saying, "We don't believe Judge Hellerstein's statement in court today indicates a prejudgement of the case. We continue to believe there is a strong basis for fair use in this case, and Judge Hellerstein made clear that he hasn't even begun to focus on the fair use issues." In its report, AP said that neither side seemed ready to enter settlement talks. AP's attorney in the case, Dale Cendali, says that to reach a settlement with Fairey the AP would want it made “clear to the world that AP owns the copyright,” and that this was not fair use on Fairey’s part. The AP is also seeking compensation for “the extreme amount of effort and expense it has incurred in order to protect the rights of it’s photojournalists,” Cendali adds. A spokesman for Fairey and his attorneys says AP wants "millions of dollars" in damages, and also wants to send a message to other artists "to create a chilling effect." Fairey filed a pre-emptive claim against AP in 2009, asking a federal court to rule that the "Hope" image was fair use before AP sued him for infringement.  He hurt his own case last fall when he admitted misleading the AP about which image he used to create the "Hope" image. He said he made a mistake about which image he actually used, and tried to cover up the mistake. He's now under criminal investigation for tampering with evidence. And his fair use defense would have arguably been stronger with the image he said he used at first than with the image he actually used. At today's hearing AP succeeded in winning an order requiring Fairey to turn over certain documents. AP hopes those documents will show that Fairey didn't make a mistake about which image he used in the first place, but purposely lied about it to improve his legal position. In ordering Fairey to turn over the documents, Hellerstein questioned Fairey's credibility, according to AP's report.