Slashdot Mirror
JibJab Sues for Fair Use of Right to Parody
An anonymous reader writes "A few days ago, Slashdot mentioned that JibJab was threatened by a copyright lawsuit. Well, it looks like JibJab decided to sue first with the help of the EFF. Lots more info here." (Here's the Bloomberg News article.) Update: 07/31 20:43 GMT by T : Seth Finkelstein has posted the court info on his website.
More info about this on EFF's site:
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http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001779.ph
From wikipedia Woody Guthrie has already given his permission.
"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."
There is something wrong where the author of a work doesn't give a damn about people using his material but his descendants get to control it for almost a century after his death.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
Posted on Sat, Jul. 31, 2004
JibJab defends use of 'This Land'
Bloomberg News
""This Land" was made for you and me, JibJab Media says in a lawsuit seeking the right to use the Woody Guthrie song This Land Is Your Land in an online parody of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.
JibJab, which creates cartoons and children's books, wants a court order saying the song's inclusion in an animated video that shows Bush and Kerry slinging insults is a fair use under copyright law. The song's copyright owner, Ludlow Music, has threatened to sue JibJab if the song isn't pulled from its Web site, JibJab claims.
In the two-minute video, Bush's cartoon character declares that his Democratic opponent has "more waffles than a House of Pancakes," and Kerry counters that Bush "is a right-wing nut job." The video has been aired on shows including ABC World News Tonight, The Today Show and Larry King Live.
Kathryn Ostien, director of copyright, licensing and royalties for New York-based Ludlow Music, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
JibJab, which is run by brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, says in its suit, filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court, that the video is a parody and doesn't infringe on Ludlow Music's copyrights."
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
A parody mocks the artist or composer. A satire mocks someone else using the work created by the artist or composer. Parody is protected by fair use (since it is a sort of review or statement about the work in question) while satire is not.
JibJab is probably going to be ruled satire since it does not comment directly on Woody Guthrie or his works, but rather uses his works to make a statement about Kerry and Bush.
The relevant case law here is Dr. Seuss Enterprises vs. Penguin Books (9th circuit)
Lawrence Lessig explains it well (and with examples) on his blog entry about it.
I'll attempt to do an executive summary though. The video will probably not be considered a parody because it does not make fun of the song itself, it just uses the song in its parodying of George Bush and John Kerry.
Just as Michael Jackson's Beat It is to Weird Al's Eat It, the music is not changing but the words are. Yes, Al got permission but he was not required to. If you look up the legal definition of what a parody is you'll find: According to law.com parody is "the humorous use of an existing song, play, or writing which changes the words to give farcical and ironic meaning." Given that JibJab's lyrics (Read them for yourself) did not use the song in it's original state, and unless the definition of a parody has changed, Jibjab should be in the clear.
Interested people can read the decision here.
It's not redundant if you haven't seen it. The Slashdot story makes no reference to the humor. Just because you have seen the movie, don't think that everyone has.
So, here is the link again. Be sure to see the Flash Movie, This Land. It's very funny.