After More Than a Decade of Litigation, the Dancing Baby Has Done His Part to Strengthen Fair Use for Everyone
By Corynne McSherry June 27, 2018 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/06/after-more-decade-litigation-dancing-baby-ready-move Litigation can always take twists and turns, but when EFF filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group in 2007 on behalf of Stephanie Lenz, few would have anticipated it would be ten years until the case was finally resolved. But today, at last, it is. Along the way, Lenz v. Universal contributed to strengthening fair use law, bringing nationwide attention to the issues of copyright and fair use in new digital movie-making and sharing technologies. It all started when Lenz posted a YouTube video of her then-toddler-aged son dancing while Prince’s song “Let's Go Crazy” played in the background, and Universal used copyright claims to get the link disabled. We brought the case hoping to get some clarity from the courts on a simple but important issue: can a rightsholder use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to take down an obvious fair use, without consequence? < - > Lenz and Universal filed petitions requesting that the Supreme Court review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. The Supreme Court denied both petitions. This meant that the case returned to the district court for trial on the question of whether Universal’s takedown was a misrepresentation under the Ninth Circuit’s subjective standard. Rather than go to trial, the parties have agreed to a settlement. Lenz v. Universal helped make some great law on fair use and also played a role in leading to better takedown processes at Universal. EFF congratulates Stephanie Lenz for fighting the good fight, and we thank our co-counsel at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP and Kwun Bhansali Lazarus LLP for being our partners through this long journey. And in case you are wondering: that toddler dancing in the original video is now in middle school. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/06/after-more-decade-litigation-dancing-baby-ready-move _______________________________________________ Infowarrior mailing list Infowarrior@attrition.org https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/infowarrior
