ARTSBEAT; Shepard Fairey Pleads Guilty Over Obama 'Hope' Image
By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: February 25, 2012
The street artist Shepard Fairey, whose ''Hope''
campaign poster of Barack Obama became an enduring symbol of his last
presidential campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge stemming from
his misconduct in trying to bolster claims in a lawsuit over which
photograph had been used as a basis for the poster.
Mr. Fairey, 42, sued The Associated Press in 2009
after it contended he had infringed on the copyright of one of its
photographs in creating the poster. Mr. Fairey had claimed in his suit
that he had used a different photograph of Mr. Obama, but later admitted
that he had been mistaken and had tried to conceal his mistake, by
destroying documents and fabricating others.
''I was ashamed that I had done these things, and I
knew I should have corrected my actions,'' he said on Friday in Federal
District Court in Manhattan. The legal dispute between Mr. Fairey and
The A.P. has been settled.
Mr. Fairey, of Los Angeles, pleaded to one count of
criminal contempt and could face up to six months in prison. A
prosecutor, Daniel W. Levy, told the magistrate judge, Frank Maas, that
the government was likely to seek some term of imprisonment for Mr.
Fairey, who will be sentenced on July 16.
His lawyer, Daniel M. Gitner, said later that his
client had ''cooperated fully'' with the government and took ''full
responsibility'' for his actions.
Tom Curley, the president and chief executive of The
A.P., issued a statement noting that Mr. Fairey had started the case
with his lawsuit over copyright fair use issues, and added, ''The A.P.
hopes that some good may come of this, by alerting judges and parties to
the possibility that fake evidence may exist.''
This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.
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