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Parody or Satire? Threat To Sue JibJab
The Importance of writes "Internet multimedia producers JibJab have been getting a lot of attention recently for their version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" that pokes fun at Bush, Kerry and America in general. Now, JibJab is being threatened with a copyright lawsuit by the rights holders. They've already contacted EFF and there is an ongoing debate about whether the flash animation is protected parody or infringing satire."
Anti-property, anti-government... and they're worried that a satire aimed at Bush/Kerry will "damage" this "icon of americana"?? This is what the original folk music was all about! It seems to me that the copyright holders are just looking for an excuse to come down on these people. I doubt Woodie Guthrie would have approved the suit...
(PS. Just to be clear, I love this song - in its entirety - and was listening to it last week during a drive across the U.S. I wish the original message wasn't getting so lost...)
The intent is to make a political message about the government not to parady the song. Ergo Ipso Facto, it's a satire not a parody and they're in the wrong.
My god, something actually VALUABLE was posted to slashdot. What a rare occurance!
What's important in this case is that is clearly political speech, and the Courts have time and time again give much more freedom to political speech than any other. Political speech is what is most protected by the first ammendment, because it keeps a free government free.
What does someone like Weird Al Yankovich do? Does he pay the copyright holders for the songs he parodies?
Yes.
The difference is that parody makes fun of the original work that the work is derived from; satire is a derivative work that makes fun of something else. Parody is protected, satire is not fair use.
It's pretty clear that the flash animation in question does not make fun of the actual song, but rather the presidential candidates and America in general. Thus, I don't think it's legal, but I'm only a law intern.
I'm not saying that I like the conclusion, however.
Oh, sorry, I thought the title said "Threat To Sue JarJar"
Whoever wound up with the rights to his music has, I suspect, a rather different view of things.
--Bruce Fields
These companies don't give a hoot about songs nor artists. They only care about how much money they can make off it.
The music company is just mad because they are not making money from it.
Welcome to the land of corporations.
The song should be renamed: This land is my land, your land is my land.
Satire has a near and dear place in many people's hearts just as a coping mechanism with all of the crazy stuff happening in the news. Take it away, and we go back to rioting. That's how it works
I are winner
I've seen Jib-Jab's song, which is a very clever and well-done piece of bipartisan fun. The problem though, is that parody can't use an entire work - either all the words or all the melody or both. Appropriating the entire song and changing some of the lyrics goes beyond the normal bounds of fair use. It's why Weird Al Yankovic gets the copyright holder's permission before publishing his parody songs, and it's why Mad Magazine sets limits to the song parodys it publishes.
Of course, the present copyright holders of "This Land is Our Land" are still being dickheads.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
that was the intro song to Robbin Hood (the DISNEY CARTOON) simpy sped up.... it was identical.... nobody ever said anything to them
I swear, I've seen the entire flash three times now thanks to the repeat airings on the news. Would anybody have gotten their undies in a twist if the animation had been something completely forgettable on Newgrounds.com?
"The damage to the song is huge"? I'll never understand these idiots. It's as if they assume that because somebody heard a menial representation of a very well known song in a little cartoon being distributed via the Internet that they're immediately going to think that the original work is bad/political/evil/whatever.
That JibJab parody was hilarious. If anybody should be getting pissed, it should be the Native Americans because of that bit at the end of the song (go ahead and hold your breath, I'm sure it won't be long before they jump on).
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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They're probably making fun of Bush, not Woody Guthrie. They're just using Woody Guthrie's song to enhance their parody. Penny arcade had a simular problem when they did a comic about "American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake". Actually, Penny Arcade might have been able to win that case (the commic had Strawberry dolled up like a Dominatrix, and you could argue they where making fun of her overly sweet image by showing her in that light). Now, I haven't seen this flash, but I'm guessing it in no way makes fun of Folk songs/signers.
Now, the irony is having a champion of the little guy (Woody Guthrie), having his works controled by large corporations. Gotta love it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Reread the page you linked to. It doesn't say anywhere that he pays the copyright holders. It only says that he voluntarily asks for permission from the original artist before doing a parody.
Does Al get permission to do his parodies?
Al does get permission from the original writers of the songs that he parodies. While the law supports his ability to parody without permission, he feels it's important to maintain the relationships that he's built with artists and writers over the years. Plus, Al wants to make sure that he gets his songwriter credit (as writer of new lyrics) as well as his rightful share of the royalties.
.... its freedom of speech but only when you say what I want to hear.....
To quote Ren Hoek...
"Sometimes your wealth of ignorance is astounds me"
and to quote Woody Guthrie...
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
Insolence. The original copyright notice attached to This Land is Your Land ( and several other Guthries, iirc ) reads as follows:
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
Your bullshit about caviar dreams and champagne wishes is poorly placed against a man who loved his fellow americans, loved the free flow of information, mailed lyrics booklets to his listeners and invited them to sing his songs, and died wretchedly in a state hospital of an irreversible degenerative nerve disorder. Learn your history.
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
This log is your log
This log is my log
When lightning struck it
It kicked the bucket!
I poured some onions
Inside my trousers
This log, it used to be a tree
Now it spreads love to you and me
Hey look, it's headed out to sea!
Don't Tread on Me
For those who don't know, here is the portion of the U.S. Constitution that copyright and patent are based on:
"congress shall have the power . . . to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If they pass a copyright term extention every 20 years, then they are perpetual, and therefore not for limited times.
How ya like dat?
http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/26/commentary/wastler /wastler/
Right now lawyers for both sides are just hurling threatening letters at one another. If the dispute ends up in court, it'll be interesting.
TRO: "You've hurt our music!"
Jibjab: "You've got no humor!"
Both: "This judge will surely side with me!"
$cat
I'm not sure if we can trust Wikipedia, but any man who says:
...very likely wouldn't be too concerned about people changing his song in any way. Perhaps a bit sad is the fact that he's been dead for almost 40 years, and yet that copyright he thought would last only 28 years is still in effect.
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
...anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it.Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it.
Woody Guthrie has never heard me sing.
One entry found for satire. : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
Main Entry: satire
Pronunciation: 'sa-"tIr
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough -- more at SAD
1
2
synonym see WIT
None of that applies to this situation. Here's parody:
Main Entry: 1parody : a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule : a feeble or ridiculous imitation
Pronunciation: 'par-&-dE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -dies
Etymology: Latin parodia, from Greek parOidia, from para- + aidein to sing -- more at ODE
1
2
Clearly in this case, the definition for parody applies. This case is completely without merit.
Back when I was grade school, we sang our own version of the song:
This land is my land.
This land ain't your land.
I've got a shotgun
And you ain't got one.
If you don't get off
I'll blow your head off.
This land was made for only me.
Fortunately, the lawyers never showed up at the playground to shut us down.
If Guthry had already given up some of his rights to the song (as per his copyright notice), then he could not transfer those rights to his heirs. JibJab might very well wind up standing behind Woody Guthrie's original copyright notice in court. Your original comment:Is horseshit. It is leastaways completely irrelevant to Woody Guthry.
IANALBIPOOTV.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
No, this song isn't making fun of the original, it's poking fun at the 2004 US elections and the candidates for both parties. The song is simply the means to an end and JibJab could have just as easily picked any number of songs about America for the tune.
Before the mods kick this post into oblivion note this, this doesn't mean I think JibJab's animatin wasn't funny, it just means I can see why this could be construed as an infringing satire and not a legitimate pardoy.
This is the kind of gross misuse of copyrights that is appalling. A little digging around on the Google and we can see that author of this song is Woody Gurthrie who lived from 1912-1967. Now assuming Woody Gurthrie wrote this song on the year of his death under the original copyright laws this work would have passed into public domain by 1999. But due to lobbying efforts of the music and movie industry this period has been extended to before the Great Depression! This isn't all that important though because it is still copyrighted regardless of former laws. However, what is important is that this song on JibJab isn't the exact song by Woody Gurthrie that was copyrighted, it is cleary a derivative work that is based on a copyrighted work but which adds a creative element that goes far beyond what Woody Gurthrie ever did. This is an issues talked about extensivly throughout the book Freeculture by Lawrence Lessig which is freely downloadable at his site. One example given in the book is how many great works where based on copyrighted works before them that had not yet entered public domain such as Disney movies or Japanese comics. The general idea is that although new works are based on older copyrighted ones it doesn't hurt the original copyright holder and serves to stimulate the growth of culture. For more information check out FreeCulture.org
I never imagined that I would ever hear the words "caviar" and "champagne" used in reference to Woody "This Guitar Kills Fascists" Guthrie. He's a (formerly) walking, talking counterexample to your stereotype.
The point is, artists are in complete control UNTIL the moment they worry about $$ instead of art.
Meanwhile, back in the real world... Artists always have to worry about both money and art. You can't write songs if you can't eat. I'm not disputing the point that too many so-called "artists" are far more interested in the money than the muse, but when the muse isn't feeding you and a cartel is blocking you from access to an audience (as the RIAA has historically done), "selling out" is an option that many take whilst holding their noses.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Even if it's not a license, it might be grounds for estoppel. It layman's terms, that means if you allow something and waive your write to sue at one point in time, you can't later "change your mind" for the same thing for the same person. Since this was directed to ANYONE, allowing them to use the music with an implied promise that no legal action would be taken, the copyright holder now may not be able to take action because of the principle of estoppel. It's not quite the same as a license, but it's close. It's because of estoppel that I can't tell you, "sure you go ahead and copy this post" and then sue you for copyright infringement if you do.
Of course, IANAL.
Sure you go ahead and copy this post.
It's both.
Sure, Kerry and Bush are main targets of parody here, but so is the whole theme of Guthrie's song. They could have used "Yankee Doodle" or "Disco Duck" or "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" as the template, but they chose "This Land Is Your Land" for what it (used to) mean.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Woody Guthrie is dead. He cannot be encouraged to keep creating through copyright protection.
You have ZERO proof that his ghost hasn't been trying to break into the record business. It's gotta be better than most of the crap out there.
Willie Nelson Rules!!!!
I'm picking on Disney as an example just because they are probably the worst ones. Mickey Mouse should be in the public domain. What has Disney done lately that justifies a perpetual monopoly? In fact, they have become a censorious bunch of political hacks--as shown by their handling of Fahrenheit 9/11 (which has already outgrossed every other movie Disney saw fit to actually distribute this year).
Poor Woody must be spinning in his grave.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
There were mother rapers. And there were father rapers! And then the biggest, meanest, father raper of them all, came up to me and asked, "what you do time for, boy?"
And I said "fer violatin a copyright." And they all slid away from me on the Group W bench.
And then I said "and fer addin' obscene words," And they all slid back towards me on the Group W bench.
What a freakin riot. It's refreshing to find someone that can poke the appropriate amount of fun at both parties without getting too wrapped up any moore.
The swf file can be found here so you don't have to deal with the ads and can save it on your own drive. Show the corporate types what the Internet is all about, sharing.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Much has been said about Guthrie's standard copyright notice to do whatever you want with his music, but I haven't read anything yet about the "folk process" to which Guthrie and his contemporaries such as Pete Seeger (who was in the folk group "The Weavers" and is still alive) depended on.
What was the folk process?
In short, it was the age-old practice Guthrie and others used of taking old music and writing new words. Just like a folk-tale is a story that has been told and changed as time goes on.
When the Weavers took [Guthrie's] 'So Long (It's Been Good To Know Yuh)' into the pop charts '51, the song had been written originally to cheer up migrant workers, adapted as a patriotic war song and as a jingle for selling pipe tobacco; far from being outraged, Woody was there in the studio, helping the Weavers adapt it yet again: 'For better or worse,' wrote Colin Irwin in Mojo '97, 'this was the folk process at work.'
As Seeger says,
"My father was more sensible. He said to think of the folk process as something that has gone on through the ages. The folk process occurs in cooking, with cooks rearranging recipes. And lawyers rearrange old laws to fit new citizens. If you look at it this way, then the true importance of folk music is to let ordinary folks change things."
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
This potential case has already been decided in U.S. case law.
5 31 01petrhr.pdf
The case that recently decided this issue on the federal level was SunTrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co. It's the case where the estate of Margaret Mitchell, the author of "Gone With The Wind" went after Alice Randall, author of "The Wind Done Gone" for copyright infringement. The case claimed that it was illegal for Alice Randall to take the story and characters of Gone With The Wind, put it in a blender and use them to make a new story that made a social and political statement.
The SunTrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co. case was first affirmed for the plantiff but was overturned on appeal. The issues of that case aren't any different from this potential case. Can parody be defined as making a political satire or statement? Is it legal to take an entire previous work and use the characters and places and story line to make your own case for such parody?
The reason I know about all of this is because it is very personal to me. Alice Randall is my sister-in-law. And in the end, the plantiff not only lost the case, but decided to contribute to charities dear to the defendant.
You can read the case yourself. But if I were the holders of the Woody Guthrie copyright, I would read this case carefully and choose not to file. Because I guarentee that the defense will be using this case as the cornerstone of their argument.
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/suntrust/wdg
I love Guthrie's work. "This Land is Your Land" is another piece of our collective cultural heratige authored by a person belonging to a group - liberals and socialists - often treated as unpatriotic outsiders.
Who can forget other such people? For example, Emma Lazarus. Author of the infamous "Give me your tired, your poor..." lines, she was an avowed supporter of socialist tax policies, and spent her efforts trying to increase government support of the poor and be a voice for women's rights.
Or how about Katherine Lee Bates, author of "America The Beautiful"? She wrote about the beautiful and spacious skies while living with her same-sex partner, Katherine Coman (an economist who wrote the first significant published work on the economy of the old west). After Coman died, Bates wrote an entire volume of poetry - Yellow Clover - dedicated to their love. Bates was not only a lesbian, feminist, and social justice fighter, but a strident anti-imperialist.
Speaking of strident anti-Imperialists, lets not forget author Mark Twain. Twain's political works (heavily censored at the time), especially concerning the war in the Phillipines, were amazingly harsh; he actually suggested a new flag for the Phillipines: our normal flag, but with the white stripes replaced by black, and the stars replaced by skull and cross bones.
What about the pledge of allegience? It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Bellamy, a former preacher, was kicked out of his church for trying to work politics into his sermons, even claiming that Jesus was a socialist. Despite being a priest, In Bellamy's version of the pledge there was no "under god" (it didn't even specify "the flag of the United States of America", only "my flag"). Instead, what he originally wanted to add (but was afraid to, if he wanted it to be published) was to have the pledge add "equality" to the list of things being pledged "for all".
I could keep going, but you get the picture. It's nice to see someone mention the versus of "This Land is Your Land" that rarely get sung because socialism is almost a dirty word in this country.
SILENCE BLATHERING TOADIES! We are your new masters.