'Dancing Baby' Wins Copyright Lawsuit

[jimmy olsen]

Awesome news!

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/14/440363919/dancing-baby-wins-copyright-case

'Dancing Baby' Wins Copyright Case
September 14, 2015 6:56 PM ET


A baby bobs up and down in a kitchen, as a Prince song plays in the background. His mother laughs in the background and his older sister zooms in and out of the frame.

This innocuous 29-second home video clip was posted to YouTube in 2007 and sparked a long legal proceeding on copyright and fair use law.

In the case, Lenz v. Universal — which has gained notoriety as the "dancing baby" lawsuit — Universal Music Group sent YouTube a warning to take the video down, claiming copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Then, Stephanie Lenz, poster of the video and mother of the baby, represented by Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued Universal for wrongly targeting lawful fair use.

Today, eight years later, a federal appeals court has sided with the dancing baby.

The three-judge panel in San Francisco ruled unanimously in favor of Lenz and the EFF, saying copyright holders must consider whether a use of material is fair before sending a take-down notice.

NPR's Laura Sydell reports for our Newscasts:

    "Fair Use permits people to use copyrighted material in certain situations like satire or news. Now three judges on the 9th circuit say that unless Universal evaluated whether it was fair use, it may have violated the rights of the video maker. The case is significant because critics say copyright owners like Universal abuse the take down process often at the expense of free expression."

The timing of the case is also significant, the EFF said in a statement.

    "Heated political campaigns—like the current presidential primaries—have historically led to a rash of copyright takedown abuse. Criticism of politicians often includes short clips of campaign appearances in order to make arguments to viewers, and broadcast networks, candidates, and other copyright holders have sometimes misused copyright law in order to remove the criticism from the Internet.

    "'The decision made by the appeals court today has ramifications far beyond Ms. Lenz's rights to share her video with family and friends,' said McSherry. 'We will all watch a lot of online video and analysis of presidential candidates in the months to come, and this ruling will help make sure that information remains uncensored.'"

[The Brain]

The dancing baby was a 90s thing.

[Martinus]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

[Malthus]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

Make a version with cats as the actors, and you'd become a millionaire. 

[Syt]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

You may have trouble arguing the major transformative effort you've applied to the original work that now constitutes the main part of the new work.

[sbr]

Don't be so harsh Syt, it's not like he's a lawyer or something.

[garbon]

What an awful video and I feel awful that such spent time in a court trial. She had nothing better to do?

[garbon]

Yes, I just can't be bothered. Also, I don't plan to spend several years talking about it.

[Martinus]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

Make a version with cats as the actors, and you'd become a millionaire. 

Apparently the casting has already been done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl4z7tdsDN8

[Malthus]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

Make a version with cats as the actors, and you'd become a millionaire. 

Apparently the casting has already been done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl4z7tdsDN8

[The Brain]

I'm gonna make bootleg version of Game of Thrones, by filming my cat in front of the monitor playing all episodes, and then posting that on youtube. Let's see what HBO does about that.

Make a version with cats as the actors, and you'd become a millionaire. 

Apparently the casting has already been done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl4z7tdsDN8

Sigh.

[Malthus]

The intro, with kittens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHf8W_7kc-w

[Martinus]

The intro, with kittens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHf8W_7kc-w

[Grey Fox]

What an awful video and I feel awful that such spent time in a court trial. She had nothing better to do?

Yeah, lets not defends our rights because our artistic sense sucks.

[Martinus]

The intro, with kittens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHf8W_7kc-w

I followed a number of links in a similar vein. Let's just say what has been seen cannot be unseen. Like, the GoT intro as performed by goats.