Outside that context, it was reproduced as an Internet meme based on Joy Garnett's 2003 painting Molotov and became a prominent case study of the reuse of art.

[1] The photograph depicts a man, later found to be Pablo "Bareta" Arauz, who is poised to throw a Molotov cocktail, made from a Pepsi bottle, in his right hand while he holds a rifle in his left.

[citation needed] By Meiselas's account, I took the picture... in Nicaragua, which had been ruled by the Somoza family since before World War II.

[4] Joy Garnett's 2004 exhibition Riot featured a series of paintings based on images pulled from mass media sources and depicting figures in "extreme emotional states.

"[8] Referring a legal battle known as Toywar, which had involved similar copyright issues, a group of artists launched a solidarity campaign, called Joywar.

[4] The idea behind Joywar was to demonstrate support for Garnett and protection of fair use by copying the Molotov image and reposting it in as many incarnations as possible.

Both had met in person for the first time a day earlier, and they gave a side-by-side account of the events surrounding Molotov at the conference.

Others have responded to that, however, by affirming that Pablo Arauz lent his gesture without his knowledge to the Meiselas photograph, which would become the iconic symbol of the triumphant turning point of the Sandinista Revolution.

On one hand, she was concerned with the role that copyright could play in restricting artistic creation and how to preserve rights of ownership but still allow for creative appropriation under terms of fair use.

[10] The case was decided in Koons's favor and established that a visual work of art that has incorporated appropriated imagery is sufficiently "transformative" and so is protected as a fair use.