Fair Use?

In my opinion, I believe that Shepard Fairy did NOT violate Copyright laws.

I think his appropriation falls under "fair use", if you look at the first of "The Four Factors" of measuring fair use, The Transformative Factor,  it states that if the original work has been transformed by adding new expression or meaning, or if value was added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings than it has not violated Copyright law.

First of all, Shepard Fairy transformed the picture by Associated Press by adding a posterizing effect to President Obama's face, he added text, giving the work a new meaning and expression. He created a totally new piece of work, the original picture is more documentary style, it doesn't convey a certain meaning or idea, it's just a close up picture of Obama's face. Whereas, Fairy gave the original picture a new meaning, because after you look at Fairy's artwork, and look back at the original photograph, it has a completely new meaning. Also, it is stated in the Copyright law that as long as you borrow a small portion of a piece of work and that it is not the "heart" of the work then it is in fair use. Fairy only used the position Obama was in, he changed a few features on his face, he even changed a bit of the proportion of Obama's head in comparison to his torso. Fairy added text, symbols, and patriotic colors. The original photograph is no where in his work.