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Yoko Ono/EMI Suit Exposes Fair Use Flaw

Ian Lamont writes "Yoko Ono and EMI Records have backed down from their suit against the makers of a documentary film who used a 15-second fragment of a John Lennon song — but only after a Stanford Law School group got involved. Even though the use of the clip was clearly Fair Use, the case exposed a huge problem with the doctrine: It's becoming too expensive for people to actually take advantage of what is supposed to be a guaranteed right. Ironically, the song in question was Imagine."

12 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So sue to recover the losses by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 1, Troll

    The "makers of a documentary" here is "Ben Stein" and the "documentary" is "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed".

    I was actually hoping that Yoko and EMI would win this one.

  2. Conservative Flim == SUE by Mr.+Droopy+Drawers · · Score: 1, Troll

    Would Yoko Ono have sued about this if Michael Moore borrowed that same 15 second clip?

    I think not.

    It's only OK to "Imagine" a world that believes exactly as you do.

    --

    To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.

  3. Not your decision by mungtor · · Score: 0, Troll

    Just because you don't want others to retain rights doesn't mean that copyright needs to be limited by anybody other than the creator. If they want to give it away, fine. It's not up to you to decide that they've gotten enough out of it and it should be yours for free now. It's perfectly in your power not to use it or pay for it, but people seem to have issues with that as well....

    1. Re:Not your decision by mungtor · · Score: 0, Troll

      So write a better song, and don't sing Happy Birthday. Also, stop whining. Copyright on an existing entity does not stop you or anybody else from creating alternatives.

  4. Democrats raped taxpayers and destroyed economy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Fannie Mae and the expansion of the CRA are at the heart of this current mess. Bush AND McCain both called for more regulation of Fannie Mae, and were consistently blocked by Democrats and a few whoreish Republicans. When has Obama ever bucked his own party to bring much-needed reform? The answer is NEVER. Does anyone think that Barack will call for a full and public investigation into members of Congress who got us here? If he did, he'd have my vote, but as of right now I the best I can do is to vote for someone who will stand up and oppose congressional Democrats the next time they want to pillage the taxpayers and then run and hide behind a bail-out bill.

  5. The good die first by Farenji · · Score: 0, Troll

    And they take with them all good things. One day, the only thing that's left of the beatles is that Yoko bitch and her army of lawyers, and that guy with the big nose, whatshisname, Gringo Fart or something.

    By then, all music will be banned because record companies failed to find a way to charge people as soon as music hits their ears so they decided to eliminate music entirely.

  6. Margaret Sanger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    *ludicrous attempt to portray evolution and atheism as causing eugenics and Nazism*

    Margaret Sanger founder the Population Council, which formulated modern eugenics. She thought Hitler circa 1930 to 1940 was wonderful. She wanted to stop births of "Catholics, blacks, Jews, and other mental defectives" (her words).

    Only after the evils of the Holocaust were publicized in photographs did she tone down and change the name to Planned Parenthood. You will notice most of her clinics are in black dominated neighborhoods, and blacks have abortions out of all proportion to their numbers in society.

    Nothing ridiculous about the movie, bunkie.

  7. Re:So sue to recover the losses by electrictroy · · Score: 1, Troll

    I don't really care what label you use: "conservative" or "liberal". What I care about is PRO-CHOICE positions, and the Democrats are slowly but surely eroding that freedom of choice. ----- If you want an education, you go to Uncle Sam High. If you want a home, you borrow from Uncle Sam Fannie Mae. If you need to retire, Uncle Sam Eldercare will send you SS checks each month. And if you want healthcare you will (soon) have to go to Uncle Sam General.

    Where's the choice in that??? It's a monopoly, and you can not have true freedom in a monopoly.

    I also object to the Democrats' love for raiding my neighbors' wallets, not for the benefit of all, but for a few. The obvious example is the Bail-Out which will collect ~$7000 from 110 million american households in order to give it to a few executives. I was happy when the Republicans rejected the bill the first time.

    I'm tired of anti-freedom monopolies. I'm tired of watching politicians raiding wallet, not for everybody's benefit (GENERAL welfare), but to enrich somebody else (welfare for a select few). This is no longer the land of liberty.

    Not that the Republicans are much better.
    They are merely the better option.

    --
    The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
  8. Re:So sue to recover the losses by aproposofwhat · · Score: -1, Troll
    See the AC comment above - "fair use" is intended to protect scholarly works, not insidious and downright evil propaganda.

    Yes, I do believe that proponents of ID are evil - teaching kids outright lies is tantamount to child abuse.

    --
    One swallow does not a fellatrix make
  9. You didn't already know this?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yoko is a cunt.

  10. Re:So sue to recover the losses by aproposofwhat · · Score: 1, Troll

    Sure, rights extend to people with whom I disagree - except that in this case, the doctrine of fair use is being misapplied.

    See section 17 USC #107, item 2 - the nature of the copyrighted work is in no way related to the nutcase belief in ID, so an ID propaganda film should have no fair use defense in this case.

    Thanks for the child porn strawman, BTW.

    --
    One swallow does not a fellatrix make
  11. Re:So sue to recover the losses by aproposofwhat · · Score: 0, Troll

    I don't see the relevance of the 1st Amendment here - you're obviously a twat of CR Culver proportions, and deserve to be ignored if I could be arsed.

    I'm surprised a clueless ID cunt like you could even read the Copyright act, let alone pen such a long response.

    OK - if the 'fair use' defense is criticism, then I stand corrected, but you're still a cunt and so are all your co-religionists.

    Oh, and I burn karma to stay warm, so thankyou and goodbye :-)

    --
    One swallow does not a fellatrix make