Photographer Jay Maisel Threatens To Sue Over Pixel Art of Photo

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Andy Baio tells the story of how noted photographer Jay Maisel threatened to sue him because of a pixelated version of of a Miles Davis photo that Andy had a friend create for the cover of “Kind of Bloop”, chiptune tribute to Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue”. According to Andy’s lawyers, the pixel art image is fair use of the photo. Andy ended up settling with Maisel, playing him $32,500. To help Andy recoup his legal costs, please consider purchasing a copy of “Kind of Bloop”.

There’s a lively discussion about this issue of this taking place on Jay Maisel’s Facebook page.

People have been encouraging Jay Maisel to address this issue on his blog.

UPDATE: Jay Maisel has deleted his Facebook page.

Scott Beale
Scott Beale

Scott Beale founded Laughing Squid in 1995 in San Francisco and is currently based in New York City. When not running the blog, Scott can be found posting on Bluesky and sharing photos on Instagram.