Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

AP photo / Damian Dovarganes
Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey poses for a picture with his Barack Obama Hope artwork in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

Lawyers for Shepard Fairey, the famed street artist and 1992 RISD grad, have asked a U.S. District Court judge to toss out a suit filed against the artist by the Associated Press. In its suit, the AP claimed that that Fairey had unfairly based his now iconic Obama "Hope" poster on a 2006 photo taken by an AP photographer. In response, the AP demanded that Fairey credit it for the image and pay the company unspecified compensation for its use.

On Monday, Fairey's attorneys fired back, asking a U.S. District Court judge to rule that the Obama poster doesn't infringe on the AP's copyrights and barring the AP from seeking copyright claims against Fairey, his company or anyone who owns or sells the poster.

The legal wrangling comes on the heels of Fairey's Friday night arrest in Boston for placing posters on a building owned by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Fairey, who is based in Los Angeles, was in Boston last week for the opening of a major exhibition of his work at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.

 Tags  Boston RISD

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