Szukalski v. Frey [1]

Ted Szukalski, an Australian photographer, sent blogger Patrick Frey of Patterico's Pontifications [2] what purported to be a DMCA takedown notice on January 9, 2010.  The takedown notice complained about Frey's blog post [3] that reproduced and commented on a photoshopped image showing President Obama shining Sarah Palin's shoes. 

The image in question is a photshopped version of Szukalski's photograph of a homeless man shining the shoes of a seated woman (see the non-modified version titled Shoeshine - homeless and a woman client MG_6348-27 [4]).  The modified version does away with Szukalski's copyright notice and replaces the heads of the shoe shiner and woman with those of President Obama and Sarah Palin, respectively.

The photoshopped image caused a small stir in early January 2010 when a Colorado Department of Transportation worker faced discipline for forwarding the image [5].  Frey's post took issue with another blogger's description [6] of the incident as an "ugly little upwelling of racism from the right wing base," pointing out that the woman who forwarded the email was a registered Democrat.

Frey responded [7] in an email refusing to take down the image and asserting that his use of the photograph for political commentary was a classic example of fair use.  As of the date of this writing, Szukalski had taken no further action.