Trayvon Martin Shooter Zimmerman Accused of Stealing Photo (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS-GClqPBa7lcJ65-vvY4xDoli6rT41pj9pog_JjLVil5RhILxH81eFxlVez_IkGyUp0_SNOqCImTflefcQM-rJDXfyD5RHJpWjk3DPnGbdzZCWl7rsIJ5ZpSYpdj_PaxdUI5oAIJ0KM/s1600/AP_george_zimmerman_trial_jef_130701_16x9_992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS-GClqPBa7lcJ65-vvY4xDoli6rT41pj9pog_JjLVil5RhILxH81eFxlVez_IkGyUp0_SNOqCImTflefcQM-rJDXfyD5RHJpWjk3DPnGbdzZCWl7rsIJ5ZpSYpdj_PaxdUI5oAIJ0KM/s1600/AP_george_zimmerman_trial_jef_130701_16x9_992.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who was acquitted of killing teen Trayvon Martin, has been selling his artwork connected to the famous case online.  But now he’s under fire for using an Associated Press image as inspiration for one painting, without permission.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Photographer Rick Wilson says he was shocked and angered to find that his photograph of Florida prosecutor Angela Corey was “ripped off” by Zimmerman.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wilson told ABC News that he finds the use of his photo “extremely disrespectful and if not illegal.  George Zimmerman is not a professional artist, what he is in this situation is just a scam artist,” Wilson said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The AP image Wilson took has been widely distributed across the Internet and in newspapers. It was taken when prosecutor Angela Corey was announcing that she was pressing charges against Zimmerman in April 2012.  Zimmerman’s painting appears to be a duplicate of the photo, done in orange and red.</div><div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="HT george zimmerman painting angela corey blur2 jt 140125 16x9 608 Trayvon Martin Shooter Zimmerman Accused of Stealing Photo" height="342" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/HT_george_zimmerman_painting_angela_corey_blur2_jt_140125_16x9_608.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="George Zimmerman" width="608" /><div class="wp-caption-text" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; font-family: proxima-nova, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 10px 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 468px;">@rzimmermanjr/Twitter</div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christian Viveros-Faune, art critic for the Village Voice, <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/24/george-zimmermans-paintings-a-critical-appraisal/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">told TIME</a> that Zimmerman’s work fits alongside other “murderabilia” such as paintings by serial killer John Wayne Gacy and cult leader Charles Manson.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Just because you get pigment and a canvas or a piece of cloth and you dirty it up doesn’t make it a work of art,” Viveros-Faune told the magazine.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“From my experience, he used a photo editing software, or he projected the picture onto a blank canvas and painted over it,” Wilson said of Zimmerman’s work. Another art critic in the TIME story called it “appalling” and a “paint by number” piece.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John Phillips, Wilson’s friend and attorney, told ABC News, “The issue for me is that Zimmerman doesn’t seem to respect anybody’s right, and he needs to move on from this Trayvon Martin, Angela Corey situation. Quit trying to capitalize off this whole incident.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The first step is to stop him from doing it, the second step is to address what harm he has already caused and the third step would be to… well if it doesn’t stop, to shut him down essentially,” Phillips said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paul Colford, Director of Media Relations at AP, said in a statement, “George Zimmerman clearly directly copied an AP photo to create his painting of Florida State Attorney Angela Corey. The AP has sent a cease-and-desist letter asserting its copyright in the photo to the lawyer who recently represented Mr. Zimmerman. That lawyer has responded, and though she no longer represents Mr. Zimmerman, she will be forwarding the letter to him today.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AP images chimed in on Twitter, tweeting, “The Associated Press demands that George Zimmerman stop selling a painting it says directly copies an AP photo.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zimmerman fired back on his Twitter handle, @TherealGeorgeZ, tweeting, “No worries AP, I’ll just take whatever U sue me for off your tab when I’m done suing you J Or… I could put out how much U offered me 2..”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wilson hopes this battle between AP and Zimmerman will “bring this issue into the public’s consciousness,” and serve as a “greater example of copyright law.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zimmerman reportedly sold a patriotic painting on eBay for nearly $100,000, attracting over 90 bidders in <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/george-zimmermans-painting-bids-reach-100000/story?id=21242693" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #2e538f; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">December</a>. It’s not clear if he actually received that much cash for the painting.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last year, a jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder in the 2012 Sanford, Fla., shooting of the unarmed teenager in a case that generated national attention.</div></div>

Trayvon Martin Shooter Zimmerman Accused of Stealing Photo (BLOG)

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who was acquitted of killing teen Trayvon Martin, has been selling his artwork connected to...

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