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.
Although I'm more centrist than anything else, I understand your point. But I still don't see how the (now) grandparent comment is on topic for this /. discussion.
Political satire in free societies has been protected since Roman times. As to the song being satire and not a parody I tend to disagree. The main purpose is to make fun of the cannidates but a secondary effort is to make fun of a corny song. It would in a sense fall under both. It will in effect be up to a judge. I think there would be more issues if they were selling the video. Weird Al has made a career off similar work. I'm sure he'll be watching closely. I do agree with the other poster that I'd feel a little differently if Woody Guffery, deceased, or his family were offended. My guess is Arlo Guthrie has watch it a few dozen times and is a big fan. Love to see him come out in support.
Technically, you are absolutely right. Jib Jab isn't parodying the song "This Land is Your Land", they're using the melody from that song to make political commentary that is unrelated to the original song.
However, this only serves to point out a serious flaw in the copyright laws. Litigious bastards with no sense of humor (ie. the family of Woody Guthry) can stop someone from having a little harmless fun.