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stories filed under: "superbowl"
Culture

Culture

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Feb 2nd 2009 8:35pm


Filed Under:
ads, amateurs, content, superbowl



Most Popular Superbowl Ad Created By Amateurs

from the funny-how-that-works dept

For the past few years, there's been something of a backlash against the idea of "amateur" content production. Folks like Andrew Keen and Nick Carr have taken to mocking such efforts and insisting that professionals are basically all there is worth trusting. And... then... Doritos holds a "Crash the Superbowl" contest where amateurs are invited to submit commercials, out of which the top 5 are to be aired during the Superbowl. Not only did Doritos get nearly 2,000 submissions, one of the ads was found to be the most popular ad according to USA Today's Ad Meter, beating out the traditional kings of the Superbowl advertising business, Anheuser Busch (and winning its creators a $1 million prize). The point, which is repeatedly missed by the elitists who claim only professionals can make content is that, even if most of the content made by amateurs sucks, the ability for almost anyone to create content means that those who can do quite well, even as amateurs, now have the ability to do so. The end result is that amidst plenty of bad content, there's also an awful lot of great content that never would have been produced otherwise.

18 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Feb 2nd 2009 5:20am


Filed Under:
copyright, lawyers, public performance, superbowl

Companies:
university of tampa



Rather Than Mocking Confusion Over Copyright Law, IP Lawyers Should Look At Fixing It

from the 3.4-people-out-of-4-think-so dept

Over the past few years, around Superbowl time, there have been various articles about the NFL threatening groups (often churches) for potentially violating copyright law by having a "public performance" of the Superbowl on a TV greater than 55" inches. This year, we didn't see much of that, but there was an odd article about University of Tampa students being told that they couldn't have more than 3.4 people watching the Superbowl in their dorms, or it risked being a public performance and violation of copyright law. This, of course, makes very little sense (not the least of which is the obvious question of how you have .4 of a person.

Not surprisingly, this has the IP lawyers out there mocking folks for being totally clueless on copyright law. Yes, yes, it's easy to mock -- especially when the whole 3.4 person issue seems to have been basically made up from nowhere. However, I'd argue that the problem is less with the University of Tampa than it is with what copyright law has become these days.

We hear so many stories of bizarre interpretations of copyright law, that it clearly seems perfectly reasonable to many, many people that copyright law might actually say that about 3.4 people representing a public performance. When churches are getting threatening letters and mechanics are being sued for playing music to loudly in the garage, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. The problem is not with some clueless folks at the University of Tampa as it is with (a) our current copyright laws that have been patched and duct taped together over and over again that no non-lawyer can truly understand them, let alone abide by them and (b) other recent rulings on copyright law that have made it clear to people that the law is used to stop perfectly normal activities.

So, the IP lawyers can have fun mocking, but I'd suggest their time might be better spent working to fix copyright law so that people wouldn't even think this made sense.

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jul 21st 2008 3:48pm


Filed Under:
fcc, indecency, janet jackson, obscenity, superbowl, wardrobe malfunction



The FCC's Obscenity Malfunction

from the arbitrariness-is-no-way-to-govern dept

The FCC has a pretty spotty record when it comes to dealing with indecency charges. Basically, it seems to randomly fine stations if it receives enough complaints, even if most of those complaints come from auto-generated scripts from people who didn't actually see the content at all. Of course, perhaps the most highly publicized case where the FCC got involved over what it found to be indecent content was the infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. However a court has now ruled that, rather than a wardrobe malfunction, the real malfunction was by the FCC, which had changed its obscenity standards arbitrarily and with no explanation whatsoever in doling out fines over the incident. The court points out that the FCC is allowed to change its standards, but with an explanation and not so arbitrarily. In this case, though, it seemed clear that the response was politically motivated -- and the court has tossed out the fines.

8 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Politics

Politics

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Feb 11th 2008 2:48pm


Filed Under:
big screen tvs, congress, copyright, nfl, superbowl

Companies:
congress, nfl



Congress Wants To Separate Church And NFL From Copyright Laws

from the keep-'em-separated dept

Following a second year of stories about the NFL stopping churches from throwing Superbowl parties if they have TV screens larger than 55", it appears that some folks in Congress are stepping up to create an exception in copyright law for "houses of worship." For everyone else, the 55" limit would prevail, but churches would now be allowed to show "The Big Game" without worrying about copyright infringement charges. It's not clear why churches deserve an exemption to this law (or why the 55" limit is in the law in the first place), but don't expect that to stop politicians from jumping on a popular bandwagon issue.

Still, it's fun to watch people who clearly have no understanding of what's going on weigh in on the topic -- sometimes in well known publications. Witness a columnist for the Boston Herald who is upset about the proposed change, but for the wrong reasons. First, he appears to not understand the difference between copyright and trademark, claiming that the NFL has to enforce its copyright or it will lose it (that would actually be trademark, but who's fact checking?). He then goes on to state that "the copyrights are private property, and the league has every right within the law to profit from that property." Indeed, but banning 55" screens doesn't prevent the NFL's right to profit. In fact, this gets even more ridiculous when the guy says: "To have the government in effect confiscate that property to benefit religious institutions seems a very worrisome precedent." Wait, and having the government in effect determine the maximum size of a private TV isn't a worrisome precedent?

28 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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