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EFF sues Universal over DMCA takedown

25 July 2007 7:10 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 9 comments

Yesterday the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against Universal Music Publishing Group, asking a federal court to protect the fair use and free speech rights of a mother who posted a short video of her toddler son dancing to a Prince song on the Internet.

In February Stephanie Lenz uploaded a 29 second clip of her son bouncing around to the song "Let's Go Crazy," which is heard playing in the background. Last month YouTube informed Lenz that it had removed the video from its website after Universal claimed that the recording infringed a copyright controlled by the music company.

The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that Lenz's home video does not infringe any Universal copyright, as well as damages and injunctive relief restraining Universal from bringing further copyright claims in connection with the video.

"Universal's takedown notice doesn't even pass the laugh test," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Copyright holders should be held accountable when they undermine non-infringing, fair uses like this video."

The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that Lenz's home video does not infringe any Universal copyright, as well as damages and injunctive relief restraining Universal from bringing further copyright claims in connection with the video.

It's hard to imagine a more obvious example of fair use, or a more blatant abuse of the DMCA's take-down clause. This is the courts' chance to send a clear message to copyright holders that this sort of abusive litigation won't be tolerated.

Given the RIAA's recent losses when someone is willing and able to spend the money to stand up to them, Universal should be worried about this case. It seems that judges may be getting tired of the entertainment industry making up their own laws to protect profits rather than rights.

Source: EFF

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

Free publication offers video creators advice on fair use (10 July 2008)

CoreCodec issues and retracts DMCA claim over open source project (5 May 2008)

US copyright official loves DMCA but admits she's not tech savvy (17 September 2007)

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DivX follows Veoh's lead and takes Universal to court (9 September 2007)

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Veoh sues Universal Music over alleged threats (11 August 2007)

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Discuss this article!
AXT (Member) 25 July 2007 14:31
Wow, what a bunch of douchebags. [ + quote]
xdgen84 (Junior Member) 26 July 2007 4:48
That's just ridiculous... [ + quote]
justme81 (Newbie) 26 July 2007 9:26
"Given the RIAA's recent losses" Dont you mean Wins? [ + quote]
blackvamp (Senior Member) 26 July 2007 11:50
How is that clip going to hinder universal from making money?! O wait, maybe because after people listened to that crap they put out, they would refuse buy it any more. What a loss! I feel for the guys at Univeral [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 26 July 2007 14:06
*Originally posted by blackvamp:* How is that clip going to hinder universal from making money?! O wait, maybe because after people listened to that crap they put out, they would refuse buy it any more. What a loss! I feel for the guys at Univeral its more like youtube is making money from "advertising" and they wont their cut and they are using the law as their leg breakers. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 26 July 2007 16:09
They gotta be kidding. So i can get sued if i do a MJ performace back in year 11 for 45mins :) If anything this should be seen light hearted and not taken this far. It's actually advertising the song. What dummy's As the 20/20 guy says, "Give me a Break" [ + quote]
blackvamp (Senior Member) 27 July 2007 5:17
*Originally posted by borhan9:* They gotta be kidding. So i can get sued if i do a MJ performace back in year 11 for 45mins :) If anything this should be seen light hearted and not taken this far. It's actually advertising the song. What dummy's As the 20/20 guy says, "Give me a Break" Haha, Jonh Stossel. Don't always agree with him, but I love that guy. [ + quote]
RNR1995 (Inactive) 27 July 2007 11:18
LOL I agree with AXT "Wow, what a bunch of douchebags. " [ + quote]
Mez (Senior Member) 30 July 2007 6:38
Good job EFF! They are the only advocates for the public. Even our elected officials will flush us down the toilet for a little financing. [ + quote]