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News You Could Do Without

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Aug 28th 2009 2:14pm




Filed Under:
copyright, fair use, flickr, joker, obama

Companies:
yahoo


Flickr Obama/Joker Takedown Story Gets... Odd

from the so-what-happened? dept

We were a bit confused over the claim recently that Flickr (Yahoo) had taken down a Photoshopped image of Obama as "the Joker" superimposed on a Time Magazine cover. It didn't make much sense, because it wasn't clear who's copyright was even at issue. It didn't seem likely that Time Magazine would have any claim, even though that's what many assumed. So, some folks started asking around -- and all of the "obvious" candidates said no. Time Magazine, DC Comics and the original photographer who took the image on which the photo was based all insisted they didn't send the takedown. That resulted in some fingerpointing at Flickr, but some more digging by Thomas Hawk turned up a guy named Edward Przydzial (though Yahoo's takedown notification called him Przydzia, which resulted in even more confusion initially. But, no one seems to know who he is and what copyright he might hold in the matter, making the whole story quite bizarre. Hawk contacted Przydzial, who responded claiming that he created the image... but also that he doesn't own the image, and refused to say whether or not he filed the DMCA notice (and some bizarre stuff about needing a court order to find out who filed the DMCA notice). Once again, this highlights some of the inanities of the whole DMCA takedown process.

29 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), Aug 28th, 2009 @ 2:41pm

    Wow

    This Pryzydial guy might have a better case if:

    A. He didn't continue to reply to Hawk's emails with grammatically-challenged, misspelled, half coherent ramblings about a liberal bias that then just get thrown up on the updates to the post

    B. He didn't have this "show me a judge's signature" attitude

    C. There wasn't information available that he had served federal time for interstate transportation of goods derived via fraud

    D. He was as willing to open up the files/records on his computer as Firas claims to be

    and

    E. He didn't have the kind of mustache that makes the vaginas of 12 year old girls quiver with fear

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), Aug 28th, 2009 @ 2:53pm

    Huh?

    "I created it but I don't own it." That is one lame attempt at litigation avoidance if I ever saw one.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anona Cowaobsy, Aug 28th, 2009 @ 3:02pm

    Come on Warner! You'll be able to get you're favorite topping!

    Where's My Sue-Happy Warner Bro?

    Surely Warner owns some license or has lost revenue somehow and needs to sue.

    Come on, Warner. Call your favorite Custom-Evidence Fabricator and join in! After court costs, legal fees, and the fake research papers, you'll net $10.

    That's like almost a Small Pizza! All for you! And we know how much you like the 'za! Mmmm! Sausage!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    icon
    william (profile), Aug 28th, 2009 @ 4:02pm

    I think I'll stay out of this one and let dark helmet handle it. :)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Poster, Aug 28th, 2009 @ 4:16pm

    Can we seriously get the DMCA takedown procedures changed already?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 28th, 2009 @ 4:34pm

    Re: Wow

    For a second there I was like, "who are you and what have you done with Dark Helmet?"

    Hmm...

    Maybe Edward Przydzial is the Joker?

    Also:

    I know you are serious half the time DH - though let's face it, it's not *quite* half ;)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Marcus Carab (profile), Aug 28th, 2009 @ 4:35pm

    Re: Re: Wow

    Hrm, I was apparently not signed in.
    I hate being an AC!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    RD, Aug 28th, 2009 @ 5:31pm

    yep

    "Hrm, I was apparently not signed in.
    I hate being an AC!"

    Indeed. AC's are lame, cowards, and usually muckraking shills on this site.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    AC, Aug 28th, 2009 @ 5:48pm

    Re: yep

    No doubt!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
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    Drew (profile), Aug 28th, 2009 @ 8:21pm

    I dug a little bit...

    So I looked into Edward's livejournal, since I know how it works and you can edit a previous post and still retain the original date on the post, and found that although he does have galleries of himself all throughout last year (each containing one photo) every single gallery with a Time Joker Obama picture has an updated date of this month; the earliest being August 10. Why is this so telling, since it is an 'updated date'? Each gallery only has one image, so more than likely each time he uploads a new image he and/or livejournal are creating a new gallery for this image.

    This is exactly why the founding fathers put 'due process' into the constitution, so that to be found 'guilty' by a court would involve having to be proven 'guilty'. This also is true in Civil suits as there is a burden of proof. However the DMCA circumvents any due process with scare tactics and overly broad language. This needs to change dramatically, I could do exactly the same thing without any proof and force the other party to prove their right rather than my proving my accusation (which I always thought is defamation, but I guess DMCA doesn't care.)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    Jonni Jigolo, Aug 30th, 2009 @ 12:49pm

    Edward Przydzial did not create that image

    Przydzial is a convicted felon who went to jail for defrauding photo agencies out of thousands of photos of the band KISS in the late 70s / early 80s. He is a notorious Internet scumbag and harrassment artist who loses his tiny mind whenever his activities come to light.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcKS4Lq23LE

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP-3Rg6UcE

    I can state FOR A FACT that Przydzial edited his Livejournal entry after the image went viral to try to lay claim to it.

    Download this picture:

    http://pics.livejournal.com/edwardprzydzial/pic/00003ww6

    Open it in Photoshop. Go to "File Information" and check out the creation date: 12/25/2008. And yet Przydzial claims the image was posted on 10/9/2009. TIME TRAVEL! Firas Alkhateed is the real creator of the image, Przydzial is just a thief.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    anonymous, Aug 30th, 2009 @ 1:40pm

    Re: Come on Warner! You'll be able to get you're favorite topping!

    warner brothers or warner music group? wmg is worse (taking down madonna's videos from her own channel, etc) and they're not the same company (anymore) as the guys that own dc comics.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    ron kustes, Aug 30th, 2009 @ 8:29pm

    eddie pretzel says...

    JONNI JIGOLO LINKS ARE SPAMBOTS do not use they will damage your computer it is SPYWARE... troll spam.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    ron kustes, Aug 30th, 2009 @ 8:31pm

    eddie pretzel says...

    JONNI JIGOLO LINKS ARE SPAMBOTS do not use they will damage your computer it is SPYWARE... troll spam.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    ron kustes, Aug 31st, 2009 @ 11:28am

    obama joker artist exposed!!!

    A 45-year-old college art teacher of Polish/Austrian descent who supported Rep. Sarah Palin's (vice) presidential candidacy is the anonymous artist who turned a Time magazine cover photo of Barack Hussein Obama into the nefarious Joker of the Batman series, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

    Edward Przydzial was home in Beverly Hills on his mid break from the Art Institute when he toyed around with Photoshop to come up with the image. He posted it to the picture site Flickr for friends to see his artwork, the paper reported.

    Months later, he doctored the picture and it appeared on posters around the country with the word "Socialism" added to it. Przydzial, who dabbles in graphic arts, told the newspaper he worried about copyright infringement and so kept a low profile. He also feared a backlash for appearing to be against the president.

    Przydzial said he doesn't support Obama, though he dis-likes him more then President Bush. And he does think he's a socialist, fascist.

    "In terms of domestic policy, I don't think he's really doing much good for the country right now," he told the Times. "We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."

    aug 18th foxnews

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    ron kustes, Aug 31st, 2009 @ 11:29am

    obama joker artist exposed!!!

    A 45-year-old college art teacher of Polish/Austrian descent who supported Rep. Sarah Palin's (vice) presidential candidacy is the anonymous artist who turned a Time magazine cover photo of Barack Hussein Obama into the nefarious Joker of the Batman series, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

    Edward Przydzial was home in Beverly Hills on his mid break from the Art Institute when he toyed around with Photoshop to come up with the image. He posted it to the picture site Flickr for friends to see his artwork, the paper reported.

    Months later, he doctored the picture and it appeared on posters around the country with the word "Socialism" added to it. Przydzial, who dabbles in graphic arts, told the newspaper he worried about copyright infringement and so kept a low profile. He also feared a backlash for appearing to be against the president.

    Przydzial said he doesn't support Obama, though he dis-likes him more then President Bush. And he does think he's a socialist, fascist.

    "In terms of domestic policy, I don't think he's really doing much good for the country right now," he told the Times. "We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."

    aug 18th foxnews

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    icon
    iamtheky (profile), Aug 31st, 2009 @ 11:49am

    backdated his live journal entries of photos that have clear date/time stamps? douche is going to get it handed to him.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    identicon
    r. matheu, Sep 2nd, 2009 @ 11:31am

    even funnier, the post above by "ron kustes" actually pyzydzial is just the la times article on farees ahlkateeb with a few names and words changed. who does he think he's fooling?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  
    identicon
    boy howdy, Sep 5th, 2009 @ 12:58pm

    mr. dreamwhip says...

    for one who has stolen cultural icons in the past your comments mr. matheu are laughable. you are laughable, you might have other fooled out there but let me warn you we is gonna meet someday, punk.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Oct 5th, 2009 @ 8:16am

    obama joker artist exposed!!!

    http://artistsagainstobama.blogspot.com/

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Oct 5th, 2009 @ 8:19am

    robert matheu

    listen robert i am interested in having a meet and great. how about you and i meet at wasteland on melrose. it's only a block or so from your place or maybe i should just come over there. you let me know douche.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
    identicon
    Obama Joker Artist Fraud, Nov 22nd, 2009 @ 7:03am

    Przydzial not Obama Joker Artist

    Check the DMCA take-down notice Edward Przydzial sent to Flickr. According to the following article, it is most likely fraudulent. It also appears that Edward Przydzial has stated that he is not selling the Obama Joker Image, but according to this site, Przydzial is absolutely offering the image for sale. Edward Przydzial not Obama Joker Artist - Solved!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  
    identicon
    LUNATIC The Messiah, Nov 29th, 2009 @ 5:47pm

    Freedom of speech or all or just Americans?

    I'm discovering over and over that most people who believe Barack Obama (or any other president since JFK, for that matter!) is working for the benefit of the American people simply do not have enough information to make a better judgement call on the issue. If you haven't seen "The Obama Deception", "Fabled Enemies" or anything from "David Icke" concerning the NWO, then I would expect you to praise Barack (who happens to be a member of the Bilderberg group, the Council on Foreign Relations, AND the Trilateral Commission) who just appointed half the banking industry to his cabinet and THEN turned around and gave BILLIONS of our hard earned tax dollars to the banks who we aren't allowed to audit or oversee!! (also, you might be pissed if you followed the money trail to find out who REALLY owns the money in those banks!) Congressman Ron Paul has been trying to pass legislation that would force the auditing of the Federal Reserve (which is NOT A PART OF THE US GOVERNMENT...BTW), but it seems to get struck down every time. Why are foreign interests allowed to control the institution that controls our economy? Worse yet...why are we not allowed to hold them accountable when there is so much empirical evidence of moral, ethical and legal laws being thwarted at our expense? Why did our "Joker" of a presidential puppet not save the American people from that financial loss? Oh yeah.....he doesn't get to make many decisions, now does he? Ask yourself if you've ever heard this "genious" president speak without his precious teleprompter. Well, if you google search him talking without it, you'll see he's not so bright without the Hollywood speechwriters. Guy sounded like a fuckin' idiot and the only thing he's proven is that he can read a little better then GW. I try not to judge people, however if I do, I judge people based on their actions, not their words or writing. If you base your opinion of Obama on what his speechwriters have prepared for him to say, then you will undoubtedly love the guy who's had more charisma than almost any president we can remember. However, if you're not of the masses of sheeple who receive the totality of their information from CNN, Fox and other corporate run media, and you've done any research (i.e.; WORK) into the ACTIONS of our president and the executive orders he and most prior commanders-in-chief have been been signing and using to circumvent Congress, you probably see the bigger picture and how it has nothing to do with the American people receiving better education, healthcare, employment, freedom or just plain quality of life. They have everything to do with a globalist agenda to keep the money where it's always been and that's not in the hands of the average human being on this planet. We're not deemed to be worthy as cattle in the eyes of the people who pulls Obama's strings, so why should he care about you? The poster is "art" made under the authority of the speech freedoms given in the US Constitution, so I believe they should exist and be seen by many. You don't have to like it.....it's ART! Trouble is....whenever most people see art they don't approve of, it ceases to be art and becomes something that "shouldn't be allowed" or "is too controversial for the public". Well, if history has taught us anything I hope it's taught us that if we want freedom, we have to be willing to give the same freedom to everyone else. EVERYONE ELSE!!!! Even someone who bashes our beloved president. Okay....I'm done now. Shields up......come on with it, but please come intelligent, as I have no space in my reality for those not so well-read! If you don't know what you're talking about or don't have enough info, please notice the futility in primitive retorts. http://www.youtube.com/cadreinc

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  25.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Feb 21st, 2010 @ 2:22am

    obama joker artist exposed!!!

    the post above {obama joker artist fraud} by john e tyler (rocknrev) the psychopath from progressive liberal hell is posting libel and outright lies about my dmca notice and i can show proof my dmca is real, correct and official. john tyler has been online harassing me, my band, business since 2000. mr. tyler is jealous and he's using his computer to attack me online using slander, libel and copyright abuse... him and his buddies in cleveland using the name sister morphine for a band name... i own the name and it is my old group on my label. they use and abuse my images, copyrighted artwork etc. they do it as a way to harass me online. to discredit my artwork, business dealings and my music. they are small and pathetic roaches riding on my coat-tails. rev tyler is a fucking retard. his fake lawsuit is a joke and i'm still waiting to be arrested revvvy boi. where are the cops? [theme from 'cops' music kicks in...] i'm waiting for my arrest... i won't hold my breath and to see his true agenda go to his links in his post. that fact he posted a link to his gay and lame-o website of lies and deception... alone proves he's a douche who's posted untrue crap. john e. tyler is a delusional psychopathological liar... playing victim like a good liberal does. he also claims he's a marine... i would expect a marine to have better shit to do then act like a little butt hurt girl online making claims he's the 'victim' or that he's scared of the eddie przydzial 'boogie man' 3000 miles away...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  26.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Feb 21st, 2010 @ 2:28am

    john e. tyler is using these comment pages to harass me online...

    liar, liar pants on fire... goldman sachs want them credit cards returned douche and chase says you're late on your last credit card payment douche. you sure are a fucking pussy aren't you? you butthurt tough guy.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  27.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Feb 21st, 2010 @ 2:29am

    john e. tyler is using these comment pages to harass me online...

    liar, liar pants on fire... goldman sachs want them credit cards returned douche and chase says you're late on your last credit card payment douche. you sure are a fucking pussy aren't you? you butthurt tough guy.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  28.  
    identicon
    edward przydzial, Feb 21st, 2010 @ 2:29am

    obama joker artist exposed!!!

    the post above {obama joker artist fraud} by john e tyler (rocknrev) the psychopath from progressive liberal hell is posting libel and outright lies about my dmca notice and i can show proof my dmca is real, correct and official. john tyler has been online harassing me, my band, business since 2000. mr. tyler is jealous and he's using his computer to attack me online using slander, libel and copyright abuse... him and his buddies in cleveland using the name sister morphine for a band name... i own the name and it is my old group on my label. they use and abuse my images, copyrighted artwork etc. they do it as a way to harass me online. to discredit my artwork, business dealings and my music. they are small and pathetic roaches riding on my coat-tails. rev tyler is a fucking retard. his fake lawsuit is a joke and i'm still waiting to be arrested revvvy boi. where are the cops? [theme from 'cops' music kicks in...] i'm waiting for my arrest... i won't hold my breath and to see his true agenda go to his links in his post. that fact he posted a link to his gay and lame-o website of lies and deception... alone proves he's a douche who's posted untrue crap. john e. tyler is a delusional psychopathological liar... playing victim like a good liberal does. he also claims he's a marine... i would expect a marine to have better shit to do then act like a little butt hurt girl online making claims he's the 'victim' or that he's scared of the eddie przydzial 'boogie man' 3000 miles away...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  29.  
    identicon
    Rev Tyler, Aug 2nd, 2011 @ 4:59am

    Re: Edward Przydzial did not create that image

    I sued Edward Przydzial for harassment and won. There is a warrant for his arrest out of the Haverhill, Massachusetts Court. If you see Edward Przydzial, or wish to send officers his way, here is the pertinent info...

    Criminal Harassment complaint filed: 10/08/2009
    Incident number: 9027336

    Criminal Harassment court application filed: 10/15/2009
    Application number: 10150901

    Hearing: 11/09/2009
    Outcome: Edward Przydzial failed to appear - Issued to Criminal Complaint.

    Arraignment: 12/29/2009
    Outcome: Edward Przydzial failed to appear - Warrant issued for arrest.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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