Obama poster artist admits error

[snopes]

Artist Shepard Fairey, who designed the famous Obama "HOPE" poster, says he was mistaken about which Associated Press photo he based his work on and that he tried to hide his wrongdoing.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...Nx5kwD9BCK3BG3

[stagemanager0610]

I sometimes think that America is the only place where people get sued for things like this...

For the non-American snopesters, would this be an issue in your country if something like this happened?

[Dropbear]

The unauthorised use of another's copy-righted material and then provision of false information to the courts in order to cover it up? Yeah I think it would be a concern in Australia.

Dropbear

[WonkoTheSane]

Mistake, eh? Nice non-apology. Doesn't quite have the musical ring of the truth: I knowingly used a copyrighted photograph and then lied when I got busted because I knew it'd get me in trouble.

Wonko

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by stagemanager0610

I sometimes think that America is the only place where people get sued for things like this...

For the non-American snopesters, would this be an issue in your country if something like this happened?

First, though technically I'm not a non-American, yes, it would be brought to the artist's attention.

But I think you have your facts a little messed up if you're implying the artist is the one getting sued. The AP didn't sue him. He brought the lawsuit against the AP after they brought copyright claims to him.

[stagemanager0610]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

But I think you have your facts a little messed up if you're implying the artist is the one getting sued. The AP didn't sue him. He brought the lawsuit against the AP after they brought copyright claims to him.

I think you're right. What I first got out of it was that the artist made a simple mistake, such as a typo when making a citation, and that he was getting hellfire because of a simple human error, but it does look a little more sinister now.