Shepard Fairey Subject of Fed Criminal Investigation: Insights

Regarding Shepard Fairey’s motion to have a federal judge postpone his deposition of Fairey until the federal criminal investigation against him is complete, and the denial of that motion, Ben Sheffner analyzes the recently released documents. The short memo can be found here, and Ben Sheffner’s analysis can be found at Copyrights and Campaigns blog.

UPDATE: Feb. 17, 2010

For those interested in the AP’s side of the argument, Sheffner has their opposition brief on his blog, which includes a valid and on-point argument as to why Fairey’s lying and destruction/fabrication of evidence goes to counter the good faith and fair dealing argument presupposed for a fair use defense.

“The AP’s basic argument is that Fairey’s troubles are entirely of his own making, and that ‘[f]or Mr. Fairey now to point to the government’s investigation of his own misconduct as grounds for a discovery extension…is truly the definition of chutzpah.'”

Thanks Ben!

Tags: Art Law, art lawyers, evidence, fabrication evidence, pro bono