Sleeve values: Courts block CD cover

There's a bit of a battle taking place in the US between The Arizona Daily Star and the Awful Truth; a judge has ordered an injunction against the band using a photo from the paper on their sleeve pending a full consideration of the copyright issues.

What makes this interesting is it's not, for once, about the money, but about the rights of an artist (in this case, the photographer and the newspaper) to not have their work used in a way which harms them. The picture is off two policemen kneeling over the body of a third, murdered, policeman; the album's title is Kill a Cop for God. You can see why the paper might be worried at any suggestion they were relaxed about the image being used in that context.

The Awful Truth, for their part, claim that the picture falls under fair use protection - that the courts have granted an injunction suggests the judge doesn't think so.

You'd have to hope that the band would see sense before it comes to court - regardless of the copyright issues, putting the rights of a musician to use a photo ahead of the rights of the family and friends of a murdered person to make some kind of point. Even if you believe you're in some sort of war, you should respect the fallen of the other side, surely?