Sunday, April 3, 2011

Blog Comment to Torrey

Post by Torrey Proctor:

 

Reading Post: Week 1


Let's be honest. 

The story about Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope Poster was fascinating.  The current most identifiable symbol of Obama would not have existed if its creator hadn’t remixed its imagery from another artists photo.  Today we have the image in the National Portrait Gallery.  That is just one example for the powerful case for the need of fair use.  In my opinion the poster was changed dramatically from the original photographic source and in no way needed a litigation threat.  We currently live in a more sue happy capitalists society then the one Andy Warhol resided in.  In this day and age Andy would probably be serving jail time for his perpetual and blatant reproductions of Coke bottles, Campbell’s Soup, Brillo, and Mickey Mouse?  An alternative to jail time could be Andy providing a cut of his earnings to the corporations he is drawing inspiration from.  It is safe to say that Andy’s artwork wouldn’t be undercutting the earnings from Coke, Campbell’s Soup or Mickey Mouse.  It drives me a little crazy to know that the people that sued Shepard where just wanting more money in their life.  Let us not forgot that people make careers out of finding ways to make money out of others people work without creating anything themselves.   

The lessons I learned from this weeks reading is if I copy something it must be used appropriately or remixed heavily.  I now have the guidelines to protect or encourage the sharing of my creations.  Great articles!   I’ve could have wrote at length about the numerous topics of copyright, creative commons, and fair use. 

Lincoln image from:



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