Shepard Fairey admits to wrongdoing in Associated Press lawsuit

A fascinating twist to the complex story behind the legal battle behind the iconic Obama “HOPE” poster.

New filings to the court, he said, “state for the record that the AP
is correct about which photo I used…and that I was mistaken. While I
initially believed that the photo I referenced was a different one, I
discovered early on in the case that I was wrong. In an attempt to
conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images.” 

In February, the AP claimed that Fairey violated copyright laws when
he used one of their images as the basis for the poster.  In response,
the artist filed a lawsuit against the AP, claiming that he was
protected under fair use. Fairey also claimed that he used a different
photo as the inspiration for his poster.

After Fairey’s admission, a spokesman for the Associated Press
issued a statement saying that Fairey “sued the AP under false
pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used.”

Fairey said that his lawyers have taken the steps to amend his court
pleadings to reflect the fact that “the AP is correct about which photo
I used as a reference and that I was mistaken.” —Los Angeles Times