Did Slate Violate Copyright Law?
from the nobody-knows dept
Slate has a clever video comparing Hillary Clinton to Tracy Flick of the movie Election:
This isn't a blog about politics, so I won't venture an opinion on whether this is fair to Sen. Clinton or not, but the video has sparked some interesting discussion about copyright law. First, Cynthia Brumfield
points out that this is precisely the kind of video that Hollywood (specifically,
NBC's Rick Cotton) would disallow under the fair use doctrine. Cotton argues that "the assembly of unchanged copies of different copyrighted works" shouldn't counted as fair use, but that there should be "something more" to qualify. This is quite vague, but it seems pretty likely that the above video, which is basically just 45 seconds of movie footage interspersed with footage of Sens. Clinton and Obama, wouldn't qualify under his test. But Chris Soghoian points out an even more obvious way that Slate may have
broken the law: the most likely source of the video clips in question would likely be from a DVD. As Soghoian points out, the video is too crisp and clear to have come from a VHS tape. It's conceivable that it was taped from a cable TV broadcast, but I think he's right that the most obvious source would likely have been a DVD. If that's the case, then the video editor in question almost certainly broke the law, because DVD-ripping tools like
Handbrake are illegal "circumvention devices" under the DMCA. Of course, it's not likely
Election distributor Paramount will actually sue
Slate, which is owned by the influential Washington Post Company. But I think it illustrates the extent to which the letter of the law is diverging from everyday practice. In a sane world, there would be no question that videos like this one would be legal. But in the world we actually live in, no one is sure what the law is, and people developing these kinds of creative works need to be constantly worrying about possible legal problems.
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Yeah? by Ron on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 7:18am
OK, I watched the video. My comment: Who cares?
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Parody by Jim on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 8:00am
Clearly a parody and therefore fair use.
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When fair use of DVD is made illegal by Ajax 4Hire on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 8:02am
then all DVD-RW are illegal.
These laws are not about fair use, they are about taking away your ability to use content/goods/services as you see fit.
It is the dawn of the nanny state where the government begins to take more and more control of your life.
from the way you use your computer to your choice of health care (or lack), to your choice of thermostat setting, your choice to drink alcohol, to smoke, to bare arms. Death by a 1000 cuts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shops_of_Isher
"The right to buy weapons is the right to be free."
"The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
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Re: When fair use of DVD is made illegal by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 8:15am
What? There are some nice people at your door in white jackets to help you.
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analog out by AlexC on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 8:18am
Slate didn't have to defeat any encryption by ripping, they could have used the analog outs and legally done a digital-analog-digital conversion.
However, there still should be a fair use limitation on the anti-circumvention measures of the DMCA.
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by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 8:57am
That was the worst video, ever. Whoever made it should be sued, for whatever reason anyone can think of.
I feel like less of a person for having watched it, knowing that I will never get that minute and a half of my life back.
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Re: analog out by Vincent Clement on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:00am
Or better yet, just kill the DMCA. It is anti-competitive, anti-innovative and anti-consumer.
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by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:11am
Ajax, During the Packers/Giants game, they showed shirtless fans. Seems our right to "bare" arms is alive and well in America.
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by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:22am
This situation is just getting insane. If you aren't diminishing the commercial value of the original work or substituting for the original work in it entirity then it is clearly fair use.
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It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA by Mitch the Bitch on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:26am
Don;t just kill the DMCA, kill it's fn authors.
Everyday the skumbag demoncrats are stealing YOUR liberty. Liberalism is the slow road to tyranny and if YOU elect another Demoncrat and expect anything different YOU should be killed...
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Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA by Reason on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:41am
Yeah, as if the Republicans were not after your liberty either...
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Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 9:55am
Paraphrase of Mitch's post: "If you don't agree with me, you should be killed."
Funny, that doesn't sound at all like tyranny to me.
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by Inquisition on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 10:31am
Well, if Prince can force videos off of YouTube for just having a snippet of his song in the background, I'm sure that Paramount could sue Slate.
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by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 10:51am
"The video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from this website."
Apparently, Mitch has had TechDirt banned from the interweb tubes.
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Re: When fair use of DVD is made illegal by moe on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 1:20pm
Your mixing up DVD technology and DRM technology. All DVD-RW aren't illegal because many people use recordable DVDs for other things than making copies of DVD videos. Most consumer video cameras nowadays are digital, so making your own DVD videos is a common use. On top of that, DVD-R is my medium of choice for making data backups.
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Selective Enforcement by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 1:46pm
Of course, it's not likely Election distributor Paramount will actually sue Slate, which is owned by the influential Washington Post Company.
Just make everything illegal and then use selective enforcement.
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Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA by Anonymous Coward on Jan 22nd, 2008 @ 3:25pm
Wow. Either you really need to stop spewing your tripe because you're doing nothing to help your cause, or you are actually a very clever Democrat in disguise trying to make everyone hate Republicans.
Back on topic, the DMCA is horrendously flawed, but until someone sues a Congressman or something for a violation, I doubt we'll see any serious effort to mend it. The fact that an issue like this would even come up is painfully sad.
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Ever hear of DVR? by rman on Jan 24th, 2008 @ 1:22pm
I agree with an earlier statement...Who cares!
However if the only item in question is quality, ever hear of a DVR? I record shows daily on mine and can easily put them to DVD without ripping.
It's all about money, the potential of money really. If a show would never have been seen otherwise, is it really valuable?
They should take down Wierd Al if this is not fair use.
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