NJ Gubernatorial Candidate Using Monty Python Video Without Authorization In Campaign Commercial

from the double-standards dept

Politicians almost always push for stronger copyright laws or copyright law enforcement -- and yet, time and time and time again we see that when it comes to their own use, they often violate copyright law themselves. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt: most people who don't pay attention closely simply buy the industry's line about copyright: that it's property and that it's important to keep the industry functioning. Neither is true, of course, but if you don't think about it or pay attention to how copyright really works, you can see how people would believe that.

So here we are again, with yet another politician -- this time US Attorney and current New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie -- caught red handed making use of content he most likely had no permission to use. In this case, he used clips from old Monty Python skits in his television commercials (which were also placed online). The chaps who make up Monty Python insist that Christie had no permission to do so and they don't like it (they're considering suing). Now, I tend to think that using a clip in such a manner should be perfectly legal, but given that it is not, it does look pretty bad for a long-term lawyer, current US Attorney and now candidate for governor to be caught flat-out ignoring copyright law.

One could hope that this would be a "teachable moment" to a politician, letting him know that copyright is an issue that isn't quite as clear cut as many politicians make it out to be. And yet, somehow, I doubt that will happen. It's not yet clear if Christie has much of a record on copyright issues (I can't find much), but somehow I doubt he'll suddenly become a fair use crusader.

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Monty Python's Meaning Of Free: The Holy Grail Of Massively Increased Sales

from the and-that-is-the-speed-of-an-unladen-swallow dept

Last year, we wrote about Monty Python's decision to put all its content online for free hoping that would drive people to buy more of its scarce goods -- such as DVDs. And, as a bunch of you have submitted, it appears to have worked wonders. Monty Pyton's DVD sales jumped an astounding 23,000% and are now the number 2 best selling item in the Movies & TV category on Amazon.com. Who was it that said "you can't compete with free" again?

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Monty Python Puts All Its Content On YouTube To Increase Sales Of Scarce Goods

from the good-for-them dept

As quite a few folks have sent in, it appears that the always funny team of folks who made up Monty Python actually seem to get the concept of giving away infinite goods to increase the value of scarce goods. They've set up a Monty Python channel on YouTube, where they'll be putting up pretty much all of their videos in high quality. The video announcing this is quite amusing, and a good contrast to all those content providers who decided to sue YouTube, rather than learn to embrace it:

First, it points out that plenty of folks have already been posting content to YouTube, and while they could sue, instead, they decided to fight free videos with free videos by putting up their own versions -- in higher quality. There's a funny segment where the Monty Python crew reacts to being told that all of this content will be available for free, and then the video notes that while this content will be free, they're hoping people viewing the videos will go to the Pythonline site and buy DVDs (scarce goods) of their movies as well. What an idea. Instead of suing, give fans what they want, and give them a reason to buy. Ideally, they would provide extra reasons to buy the DVDs, rather than just praying that people will, but this is definitely a much better reaction than so many others.

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