Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Mother sues NBC-Universal for removing her... 29 second YouTube video

Alright, here's the beef -

A mother and EFF company are sueing NBC-Universal for removing her 29 second video on Youtube which showed her toddler dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy". The company took it down stating that it was copyright infragment despite the fact that the video was really just about the kid and not the music, which happend to be playing in the background.

I'm not taking any sides here, mainly because I think the mom shouldn't sue Universal and I don't think Universal should take the video off of YouTube!

Here's EFF's Press release:

"Stephanie Lenz's 29-second recording shows her son bouncing along to the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy," which is heard playing in the background... last month, YouTube informed Lenz that it had removed the video from its website after Universal claimed that the recording infringed a copyright controlled by the music company. Under federal copyright law, a mere allegation of copyright infringement can result in the removal of content from the Internet.

"I was really surprised and angry when I learned my video was removed," said Lenz. "Universal should not be using legal threats to try to prevent people from sharing home videos of their kids with family and friends."

"Universal's takedown notice doesn't even pass the laugh test," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Copyright holders should be held accountable when they undermine non-infringing, fair uses like this video."

Last May, UMPG's parent company, Universal Music Group, sent a baseless copyright takedown demand to YouTube for a video podcast by political blogger Michelle Malkin. That video was quickly reposted after Malkin fought back.

"Copyright abuse can shut down online artists, political analysts, or -- as in this case -- ordinary families who simply want to share snippets of their day-to-day lives," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Universal must stop making groundless infringement claims that trample on fair use and free speech."

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