The band Green Day have been cleared for using an image similar to one by illustrator Dereck Seltzer during their tour in 2009.

The artwork in question is called “Scream Icon” and was created by Seltzer back in 2003.

Since then, the image has appeared on posters and in street art which has appeared across Los Angeles including on a brick wall in Sunset Boulevard.

This particular version of the image was adapted to be used as one of Green Day’s video backdrops during each of their live shows whilst on tour.

The main change made to the artwork was a red cross which was spray-painted over it.

Judge in charge of the case Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain rejected Seltzer’s claim that Green Day had wrongfully used the artwork without his permission stating: "With the spray-painted cross, in the context of a song about the hypocrisy of religion, surrounded by religious iconography, [the] video backdrop using Scream Icon conveys new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings that are plainly distinct from those of the original piece."