Green Day have been cleared in a lawsuit over their use of an artist's image in a concert backdrop. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled in favor of the rockers today in a "close and difficult case," saying they didn't violate illustrator Dereck Seltzer's rights by using his work, Reuters reports.
Seltzer created "Scream Icon," a twisted, tortured image of a face in 2003; the image has appeared on posters and been put on walls as street art. Green Day used a version of the image with a red cross over it as part of a live video backdrop for "East Jesus Nowhere" during a 2009 tour. That interpretation was based on a photo of a beat-up copy of "Scream Icon" on a brick wall on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard.
Good news for the band, so let's celebrate with "American Idiot." (It's a safe-for-work-version, too.)
What's playing at your place tonight?
