Judge: Universal Must Consider Fair Use in Dancing Baby Case
Thanks to Bluestocking for sending me the News about the case, as well as
aredwitch who posted the background story from ABC News the other day.
Everyone remembers the Dancing Baby Case, about the Mom who posted the cute video of her kids dancing to a song by the Artist Formerly Known as the Stingy Grinch. According to this ABC News link sent to me by
aredwitch , Prince "scours the Internet" searching for infringement. Frankly, I can barely hear the music in that video, and I think it's insane that the Purple Prince or anyone could object to it. The child is the focus, and not the music.
Plus no one would say that snippet of music replaces a CD of Prince singing the song, so of course it is Fair Use!
But like any other huge corporation, Universal has a duty to sue people, so it sent what is known as a "Take-Down" notice based on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The mother, Stephanie Lenz of Pennsylvania, first took the video down, but then had it reinstated by YouTube with help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However, she wanted to sue Universal for sending the take-down notice in the first place. And now the Judge has ruled that she can proceed with the case, and that Universal should have thought more about what is Fair Use. Thanks to Bluestocking for the tip:
Back in July, attorneys for Universal told U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose, California, that they could send a notice to anyone without considering Fair Use at all, which Judge Vogel called a "a very important issue of statutory interpretation." And now he has ruled that content owners must consider Fair Use and not use the DMCA to stifle creativity.
According to Judge Fogel's Decision:
"Fair use is a lawful use of a copyright. Accordingly, in order for a copyright owner to proceed under the DMCA with 'a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law,' the owner must evaluate whether the material makes fair use of the copyright."
A good faith consideration of whether a particular use is fair use is consistent with the purpose of the statute. Requiring owners to consider fair use will help “ensure that the efficiency of the Internet will continue to improve and that the variety and quality of services on the Internet will expand” without compromising “the movies, music, software and literary works that are the fruit of American creative genius.”
aredwitch who posted the background story from ABC News the other day.
Everyone remembers the Dancing Baby Case, about the Mom who posted the cute video of her kids dancing to a song by the Artist Formerly Known as the Stingy Grinch. According to this ABC News link sent to me by
aredwitch , Prince "scours the Internet" searching for infringement. Frankly, I can barely hear the music in that video, and I think it's insane that the Purple Prince or anyone could object to it. The child is the focus, and not the music.
Plus no one would say that snippet of music replaces a CD of Prince singing the song, so of course it is Fair Use!
But like any other huge corporation, Universal has a duty to sue people, so it sent what is known as a "Take-Down" notice based on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The mother, Stephanie Lenz of Pennsylvania, first took the video down, but then had it reinstated by YouTube with help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However, she wanted to sue Universal for sending the take-down notice in the first place. And now the Judge has ruled that she can proceed with the case, and that Universal should have thought more about what is Fair Use. Thanks to Bluestocking for the tip:
Back in July, attorneys for Universal told U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose, California, that they could send a notice to anyone without considering Fair Use at all, which Judge Vogel called a "a very important issue of statutory interpretation." And now he has ruled that content owners must consider Fair Use and not use the DMCA to stifle creativity.
According to Judge Fogel's Decision:
"Fair use is a lawful use of a copyright. Accordingly, in order for a copyright owner to proceed under the DMCA with 'a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law,' the owner must evaluate whether the material makes fair use of the copyright."
A good faith consideration of whether a particular use is fair use is consistent with the purpose of the statute. Requiring owners to consider fair use will help “ensure that the efficiency of the Internet will continue to improve and that the variety and quality of services on the Internet will expand” without compromising “the movies, music, software and literary works that are the fruit of American creative genius.”