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Who is the bigger intellectual property asshole? Is it the artist who has amassed a small fortune based on “appropriation” yet still sends cease and desist letters to other artists for appropriating his work?

Or is it the largest (and only) US based nationally-oriented news service which fails to recognize “fair use” even when it literally stares them in the face?

I have created hand painted canvases of Shepard Fairy’s Obama Hope poster, and Mannie Garcia’s Associated Press photograph and put them for sale on my website here and here.

The first person to send me a cease and desist notice wins!

….. stay tuned for updates on the winner.



(For those unfamiliar with the Shepard Fairy / Associated Press intellectual property battle over the Obama Hope poster, here is a good place to start.)

(via evan-roth.com)

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Posted on May 20, 2009

BROWSE / IN TIMELINE

COMMENTS

  1. James Powderly says:

    you ever wonder why FAT never gets C&D’d no matter who we steal from or defame? I think its cuz we’re nobodies. you have to matter to get one of those… it’s a credential, like getting splashed.

    i hope the chinese guy you had paint that sues you first ;)

  2. […] new competition organized by Evan Roth, the Graffiti Research Lab co-founder and Hova textualizer, who writes: Who is the bigger intellectual property asshole? … I have created hand painted canvases of […]

  3. Kaufman’s Legal Offices
    Wednesday Match 20, 2009

    Dear Evan Roth

    It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work entitled Hope (the “Work”) in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. I have reserved all rights in the Work, which was first published in 2008 on the internet, and I have registered the copyright.

    Your work entitled “Sue me motherfuckers” and which appears on your web site at https://fffff.at, is essentially identical to the Work and clearly used the Work as its basis.

    You neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis for “Sue me motherfuckers” nor to make or distribute copies of it. Therefore, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 USC Section 101, et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $100,000,000.

    I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies of it, and that you deliver to me all unused, undistributed copies of it, or destroy such copies immediately, and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not received an affirmative response from you by [date] indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall consider taking the full legal remedies available to rectify this situation.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Kaufman

  4. James Powderly says:

    @ Kaufman

    shopped

  5. weston says:

    i will send an email to the ap, see what they say.

  6. Evan Roth says:

    @Geraldine:
    The document filed to the court by Shep is full of great copy famo images:
    http://boingboing.hexten.net/images/x09/FILED_Fairey_Answer_and_Affirmative_Defenses.pdf

  7. this fucking rules – is this a new section of media/internet art? “Flame Art” perhaps?

    also I think we all know that whichever asshole “wins” will merely be coming in second to the #1 asshole who came up with this project idea, a certain E. Roth.

  8. Schell says:

    Spot on with the watermark, Geraldine.

  9. Randy says:

    You are undervaluing your paintings. That is the true crime of this. I’ve seen crappier works being sold for considerably more gracing the walls of crepe restaurants. You should up the price before I buy both, put them up in my museum and have a million copies printed for sale in the gift shop.

  10. chro says:

    I’m glad to see people come out and call out shep-ly for being the tool asshole he is (as well as the AP). To many people kiss his balls, bout time he is knocked a few notches down.

  11. Lk says:

    Shep was called out by Phantom, an artist in LA – watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUzLe6-YVk

    Also see http://disobeyduhfairey.vox.com/

  12. PB says:

    <img src=”https://fffff.at/fuckflickr/data/kopyfamo/20090326023958_obama-hope.jpg”>

  13. This is brilliant, wooohooooo!

  14. David says:

    Brilliant.

  15. gaia punk says:

    All hail the pirates!!!

    forget Shep
    forget AP
    just Love GRL

  16. Jerrem says:

    Evan this fucking rocks!
    keep up the good work.

  17. Thanks For posting,Very Nice Keep up date a more article.

  18. This is very useful information, especially for project managers. Thanks!

  19. Awesome! Some really helpful information in there. Bookmarked. Excellent source.

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