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Green Day wins lawsuit against David Seltzer


happyXamp

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Posted

In 2009, Green Day used a work of art (pictured above) for their own creative use which caught the angry attention of artist David Seltzer.

The artist sued the band for "stealing" his "frightened, fang-toothed face" for their own professional use.

Unfortunately for Seltzer, he ended up being the one who won the battle for Green Day.

During his testimony, David vented:

[T]ainted the original message of the image and made it now synonymous with lyrics, a video, and concert tour that it was not originally intended to be used with. I make an image, I produce it, I tailor it to my needs, the concept, the content, and then someone comes along, defaces the image, puts a red cross on it. I mean, maliciously devalues the original intent and then shows it to thousands upon thousands of people.

The rules of fair use are tricky ones and when David testified, he opened the door for the judge to find Green Day's use a "transformative."

By saying the art's meaning had changed and was used for a different purpose, the judge found Green Day innocent.

Judge Gutierrez concluded:

Given the fundamentally different purposes of the two works, Staub's use of a modified version of the Scream Icon image in the East Jesus Nowhere video backdrop cannot reasonably be deemed a market substitute for Plaintiff's original Scream Icon image.

Again here's the link: http://perezhilton.com/2011-08-23-green-day-wins-lawsuit-david-seltzer

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Posted

Ah, David Seltzer.

I used to know his brother, Alka.

Posted

Ah, David Seltzer.

I used to know his brother, Alka.

Sadly hes not related to Aspirin cus, hell i guess he needs one so badly :P

Posted

I think they (= those who thought of the backdrops) still shouldn't have used it without permission though.

Posted

Where is your avatar from?

On youtube there is a "making of american idiot" (album, not the single) video where they put the lyrics on paper and throw them away. (I've heard that was supposed to be an initial idea for the American Idiot video) And on google you'll find a lot of avatars where they put something else on these papers. :)

Posted

On youtube there is a "making of american idiot" (album, not the single) video where they put the lyrics on paper and throw them away. (I've heard that was supposed to be an initial idea for the American Idiot video) And on google you'll find a lot of avatars where they put something else on these papers. :)

It's an homage to an old Dylan vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ujAXxNxU0

Posted

It was a bit rude of them not to ask first. Not rude enough to sue over though, sounds like the right result.

Posted

Shame he wasn't a Green Day fan who thought it was awesome that they liked and used his art.

Posted

That used to really annoy me when they had to blur out the picture in the background. They're not going to change that in the live music video I suppose. But at least they won.

Posted

It was a bit rude of them not to ask first. Not rude enough to sue over though, sounds like the right result.

I think someone came on and said at the time that the image was in a file of images that had been sorted for use, all given the okay by their owners, etc, so it really was just a misunderstanding. The image shouldn't have been available to them.

Might have been mr foxborohottub that came on and said that XD

Posted

I think someone came on and said at the time that the image was in a file of images that had been sorted for use, all given the okay by their owners, etc, so it really was just a misunderstanding. The image shouldn't have been available to them.

Might have been mr foxborohottub that came on and said that XD

I see! Well in that case it wasn't rude at all.

Posted

Shame he wasn't a Green Day fan who thought it was awesome that they liked and used his art.

This. I'd feel very honoured if a band used my artwork.

Posted

Some of the comments on Perez's site make me laugh. "The artist had been damaged mentally..."

Please.

Posted

ahh i didn't really understand what happened. but Green day won anyway :D

nice to hear that =)

Posted

According to Billie Joe's deposition East Jesus Nowhere is about the hypocrisy of religions, which the photographer was inspired by for the video backdrops.

Green Day wins Lawsuit

Posted

oh snap! i wonder how much he was suing for

Posted

Wow I thought this dropped out of people's consciousness ages ago...must have been rumbling on all the time. Wasn't it called The Scream?

Anyway, yeah I think they should have asked before going ahead and using it but people do tend to go all melodramatic over things sometimes.

Posted

For years artist David Seltzer lived in the shadow of his bubbly brother, Alka.

Then one day he created a picture that in no way resembled an earlier idea by Edvard Munch. Said picture was subsequently borrowed by a band called Green Day.

A lawsuit ensued, but the outcome was not to the liking of the artist, who was certainly not looking for publicity in any shape or form.

Edvard Munch was not available for comment, but we were able to exclusively capture this reaction from his spokesperson:

homskrim.jpg

Posted

I always thought this was a terrible lawsuit. Glad it's been decided in Green Day's favor and that we can now move on.

And thanks for the laugh, Amanda. :)

Posted

My thoughts are with you David, stay strong x

Posted

Some of the comments on Perez's site make me laugh. "The artist had been damaged mentally..."

Please.

Which is the very definition of an artist. He ought to be looking on the bright side: some people actually know who he is now.

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