Shepard Fairey, the street artist and branding mogul who was almost as instrumental
as Jay-Z in securing then-Senator Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election, has settled one of several suits that have been brought against him and Obey, his clothing company, by the Associated Press, which owns the rights to a photograph Fairey used as the basis for an
iconic poster for the Obama campaign without securing rights, and then claimed it fell under fair-use laws. And just in time for
World's Fair Use Day, today!
Actually, the L.A. Times reported yesterday that Fairey and the AP had settled out of court, but that a case against Obey for selling clothing featuring the 2006 photograph of Senator Obama is still ongoing. Fairey promised he wouldn't use another AP image in his work without securing rights first, the two will share rights to make and sell posters and other merch using the "Hope" image, and there were other terms to the settlement that remained confidential.