Stanford professor Joel Beinin, the subject of severe criticism in a recent book by David Horowitz, has sued Horowitz and his publisher -- not for the claims Horowitz makes in his book, but for using his picture in a collage on the book cover:

Beinin acknowledges that his lawsuit doesn't tackle the more profound issues of libel, free speech or academic debate -- rather, it focuses very narrowly on an unapproved use of a photograph.

``My photo is not out there for anyone to use as they see fit -- and certainly not to make money off it, by accusing me of doing bad things,'' he said.

Horowitz responds that he doesn't expect anyone to buy the book simply because Beinin's photo is on the cover.

``If I had George Clooney on the cover, OK, he'd have a case. But Joel Beinin? That's idiotic,'' Horowitz said.

Here's the book-cover picture of Beinin displayed in a collage (he's on the lower left, underneath Lynne Stewart and beside Rachel Corrie):

Now, I haven't spent enough time researching him to decide whether or not I think he supports terrorism, as Horowitz claims. But whether I decided that or not, how would my assessment of his views affect (or be affected by) one way or the other an ordinary picture he displays at his biographical web site?

It might affect reader perceptions of this picture by Adrian Gaitan, titled "Joel Beinin speaks about Palestinian expulsion yesterday."

Hmmm.....

I think he might look more patriotic if I photoshopped an American flag in place of the PLO flag. But I just don't have time. If I did, would that make it a parody? Why would that change anything? How would I know? Are we not allowed to display publicly featured pictures of people under discussion anymore?

Even though Beinin's Complaint (which can be read here) makes numerous allegations which would be appropriate in a defamation action, this is not a defamation lawsuit, but one for copyright infringement. Horowitz is alleged to have used the picture from Beinin's web site without his consent.

What ever happened to the doctrine of fair use? (Law librarian raises the fair use question too.) Are we no longer allowed to identify public figures like Beinin -- even when their photographs are distributed all over the Internet? (The same photo of Beinin is displayed at an alumni web site.)

I think this is another example of the copyright laws being used to destroy free speech. I'm reminded of Fox v. Franken case as well as Michael Savage's lame attempt to claim his name and picture couldn't be used by Internet satirists, as it might "confuse" the public. (A similar tactic was once attempted by the New York Times, and more recently by Exodus International.)

Obviously, the use of a picture for parody is not the same as its use for political criticism, but I think both go to the very core of free speech. If Horowitz's use isn't fair use, then no blogger who criticizes, say, Ward Churchill, Cindy Sheehan, or Ann Coulter would be able to display their pictures.

At the rate things are going, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone using the copyright laws to stop the accurate quotations of words if the purpose of quoting the words is to disagree with them.

I'm trying to put myself in the professor's position. I wouldn't want to be called a terrorist supporter, and I don't think I am one. But if someone said that about me and used my picture, I hardly think my concerns would involve the picture! If I sued, it would be for the claim that I supported terrorism!

There's something very odd about this.