Judge refuses to sanction Shepard Fairey.

The common wisdom seems to be that the judge in Shepard Fairey’s lawsuit with AP and Manny Garcia over the use Fairey made of Garcia’s photo in creating the Obama Hope poster would be sanctioned for having lied during the course of the lawsuit about knowing he used the photo that was identified in February 2009 as his source. The sanctions could range from monetary “fines” all the way up to ruling against Fairey without ever having determined the legitimacy of his legal claims. But earlier this week the judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, issued an order in which he denied AP’s pending motion for sanctions. The order states that AP has engaged in an “endless quest” for information from Fairey in an effort to pin him down. At the same time, the judge acknowledged that Fairey’s carefully phrased answers to questions and his earlier dishonesty would be left to be judged for themselves during trial: ”The Associated Press, in its effort to pin down Fairey, has engaged in an endless quest for discovery. If there has been willfulness, it will be proved at trial through Fairey’s evasiveness.”