AP says artist made up story about Obama poster

NEW YORK (AP) -- In cloister affidavit filed by The Associated Press, the news organization said Shepard Fairey concocted the story that he was mistaken about which photo he acclimated to actualize the famous Obama HOPE poster and acknowledged his contention that he has not alone profited from the iconic red, white and dejected image.

Days after Fairey acknowledged trying to destroy potentially damaging evidence in his acknowledged action with the AP, the news agency filed adapted affidavit in Manhattan federal court, accusing the Los Angeles-based poster artist of deliberate deception.

Until recently, Fairey had claimed his angel was based on a 2006 photo of then-Sen. Barack Obama, seated next to amateur George Clooney. Fairey now says that he was in error and that he acclimated a solo, close-up shot of Obama, as the AP had continued alleged.

"It is simply not aboveboard that Fairey somehow forgot in January 2009 which antecedent angel he acclimated to actualize the Infringing Works, which were completed alone a year beforehand in January 2008," according to the affidavit filed Tuesday.

"It additionally strains acceptance that an accomplished graphic designer such as Shepard Fairey misremembered cropping George Clooney out of a antecedent angel and authoritative other changes ... back no such cropping or other changes were ever made."

Fairey's attorneys filed adapted cloister affidavit Friday night, saying the artist had fabricated advice and destroyed material to awning up evidence of which account he used. Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University, and the other attorneys plan to seek permission from the cloister to withdraw! from th e case.

Fairey and Falzone have both said that behindhand of Fairey's action, his assignment is still protected by fair use.

"Shepard continues to stand by his statement from last Friday," said Fairey's spokesman, Jay Strell. "He has apologized and taken responsibility for his actions. The added important question is why the AP continues to spend enormous financial resources attacking Shepard and diverting the debate from the central question in this case, which is whether he adapted the ... angel into a assignment of art, which he has."

Fairey sued the not-for-profit news cooperative in February, arguing that he didn't breach absorb law because he dramatically changed the angel and thus was protected by "fair use" guidelines. The AP countersued in March, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo abandoned absorb laws and signaled a blackmail to journalism.

"Fair use" is determined, in part, by how much a new assignment changes an beforehand one. The photo that Fairey acknowledges using appears afterpiece to the "HOPE" artwork than does the account of Obama and Clooney.

Fairey has continued contended that he did not accomplish money off of the image, which has appeared on posters, buttons, shirts and stickers, in books and in museums, including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. But the AP declared Tuesday that Fairey, through his Obey Clothing store, has "generated substantial acquirement from the commercial exploitation of the Obama posters on T-shirts and other merchandise."

The AP cited appear reports in estimating that profits from the Obama angel had topped $400,000 as of September 2008, and now far exceeded that acknowledgment to "the publicity generated by this lawsuit."

In the affidavit filed Tuesday, the AP added Obey Clothing as a acknowledgment defendant.

Last summ! er, the angel appeared on the awning of Robert Kuttner's "Obama's Challenge," a call for liberal behavior that was appear by Chelsea Green, a Vermont-based publisher. Chelsea Green President Margo Baldwin told the AP beforehand this year that Fairey, who claimed sole copyright, did not ask for money, alone that the administrator accomplish a donation to the National Endowment for the Arts.

The AP plans to accord any gain received for past use of the photo to the AP Emergency Relief Fund, which assists staffers and their families around the world who are victims of accustomed disasters and conflicts.

Fairey has said that he aboriginal advised the angel in early 2008, after he was encouraged by the Obama presidential campaign. The photo of Obama and Clooney was taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, on assignment for the AP, at the National Press Club in Washington. Garcia, who additionally shot the solo picture, filed his own clothing in July claiming he endemic the copyright.

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AP Television Writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn added about our Privacy Policy.

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