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JibJab Wins - 'This Land' is Public Domain

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-that-was-easy dept.

The Importance of writes "JibJab, creators of the hilarious parody of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land is Your Land' featuring Pres. Bush and Sen. Kerry, were first threatened with a lawsuit and then, with the help of EFF, went to court first in a pre-emptive strike. Well, EFF discovered that the song has actually been in the public domain since 1973 because it was first published in a songbook [PDF] in 1945 and the copyright was never renewed. The case has now been settled. Here are some addtional links."

13 of 628 comments (clear)

  1. How many others.... by valisk · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Copyrighted works are out there just waiting to be discovered as public domain, but still being used by the unscrupulous to chill the creativity of others?

    Lets hope this case serves as inspiration to others to dig up other gems for the public domain.

    --

    Economic Left/Right: -0.62
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.69
    1. Re:How many others.... by unformed · · Score: 4, Interesting

      One that I was surprised is that Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain (as of a few months ago.) Check out archive.org for other ones.

    2. Re:How many others.... by M.+Silver · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The one surprise in the archive.org archives is the lack of real feature films, I mean, how many studios went bust in the 20s, 30s and 40s and did their successors in interest all renew the copyright on their backcatalogues?

      Read Free Culture for some interesting bits on this... it doesn't help that stuff is in the public domain if there are no publicly-available copies. The studios were allowed to check their own films out of the Library of Congress, indefinitely and without charge, so there aren't any copies there, so the only remaining copies are dissolving to dust on studio shelves.

      --

      Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
  2. If it's been PD since 1973... by Col.+Klink+(retired) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What happens to people who paid royalties since then. Can they sue to get their fees back, or are they SOL?

    --

    -- Don't Tase me, bro!

    1. Re:If it's been PD since 1973... by XaProf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What happens to people who paid royalties since then. Can they sue to get their fees back, or are they SOL?

      Just offhand, as a random law student (I know, I know, IANAL...yet...), they might be able to get some money back through something like unjust enrichment -- on the grounds that they didn't actually get anything when they paid their money. Who knows, maybe a claim of fraud might work too. The problem with that is that unjust enrichment is usually considered an equitable principle, and that means that whoever they paid their money to could argue laches, which is basically the equitable version of a statute of limitations; people who paid money back in the 80's might still be screwed.

      But good luck to whoever sues, since that way we'll finally get a court decision. Litigation's way too expensive these days, and that's impairing the development of the law as a whole.

  3. Re:Protected speech already? Oh wait... by LordGibson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While I agree with your argument, I should point out that the Jib Jab piece isn't necessarily parody - it's satire. Satire does not enjoy the same degree of protection as parody.

    I think it wasn't parodying the "This Land" song, it was satirizing the political campaign. One could probably make a case for the reverse - but what do you think is more likely?

    "I think I'll make fun of Dubya and Kerry. This old song could be useful."

    -or-

    "I think I'll make fun of this old song. Dubya and Kerry could be useful."

  4. Re:Only out of politeness... by jridley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Amish teens are given free reign to experiment for some period of time (a few years, I think) before they become adults. If you go to amish country, you can see teens driving the buggy with a boom box blaring next to them, hanging out, etc.

    The amish want their kids to make the choice to follow their ways with full knowledge; they don't want people in their community who feel that they weren't given a choice and would feel resentful.

  5. re-emphasizes the censored by PsiPsiStar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There was an extra verse to the song that wasn't often sung because it was considered 'controversial.'

    While I was walking that ribbon of Highway
    I saw a sign that said "no trespassing"
    but on the other side, that sign said nothing.
    Well, that side was made for you and me.

    --

    ___
    It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
  6. Nice quote from the songbook... by H0ek · · Score: 4, Interesting
    THE MONOPOLY ON MUSIC pays a few po? writers to go screwy trying to write and rewrite the same old notes under the same old formulas and the same old patterns. The songs have no guts. They sound sissified, timid, the spinning dreams of a bunch of neurotic screwballs. How can they be otherwise when they have no connection with the work and the fight of the whole human race? They are bad. They are hurtful, poisonous, complascent, distracting, full of jerky headaches and jangled nerves. I have seen soldiers and sailors on ships sail these insane records over into the water by the dozens. I have heard fighting men in war zones scream and demand that the gibbery radio be shut off or it would be smashed.
    Why did I think of Brittney Spears the entire time I read that paragraph?
    --
    H0ek
    Think you're smart? Prove you've got brains!
  7. WRONG! by kajoob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Parodies are protected speech, satire is not, that's why there was a lawsuit.

    I don't know where on God's green earth you got that from, but you couldn't be more wrong. Both parody and satire are protected forms of speech. I don't have the cases in front of me, but the New York Times v. Sullivan case, the Hustler v. Fallwell case, et al, bare this out. In fact, when the satire is aimed at a public official, there is a much higher standard that is used in finding whether or not the work was defamatory in nature ("actual malice").

    On a side note, there is a unique case coming up through the Texas courts involving something called "Libel by fiction" (ie - "If what i said is fiction, it's can't be a truth I'm asserted, therefore 'wrong'").

    For the non-legal types, here is a good CNN article that pretty much somes it up in plain english. Note that the finding of the lower courts in Texas is not the law is the vast majority of jurisdictions, so let's hope that Texas gets this one right at their Supreme Court level.

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
  8. Other Remade Guthrie Songs by dan_sdot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There were some other Woody Guthrie songs remade recently too. I think the story is that these were unreleased songs of his that he had not written music to, so Woody's daughter hired Billy Bragg and Wilco to put music to them and sing them.
    They are called Mermaid Avenue (samples, review) and Mermaid Avenue Volume II (samples, review)
    They are both pretty good cds, especially volume 1.
    I wonder what the copyright implications were one these, since they were unreleased. Does anyone know? Also, what was his daughter's opinion about the jibjab song?

  9. Re:Only out of politeness... by Ignorant+Aardvark · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I take it you've never seen Firefly? The concept of that show makes a lot more sense than you realize. If you're colonizing a new planet on limited resources, and you know that resupply ships aren't going to be coming by regularly, which would you want? A tractor (or a futuristic equivalent) that can break down and/or run out of fuel? Or two horses, which can heal if they "break down", and can even breed and make more horses?

    The Amish are doing us a service. They are keeping "old" technology alive that might very well be useful when establishing a colony on a new planet. The Amish have the kept the line of really good draft horses not only alive, but thriving. They're a valuable resource to humanity.

    --
    Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
  10. What about previous buyers? by kramer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What about the various people who have previously purchased rights to use the song? If the song's been in the public domain for some 40 years, don't they deserve a refund?