http://www.reuters.com/ar...nologyNews

Cute baby video wins battle against music label
Eriq Gardner
Mon Mar 1, 2010 8:48am EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - How much should a copyright owner pay for improperly telling a website to remove content?

Stephanie Lenz got into trouble with Universal Music Group in 2007 after she posted a YouTube video of her toddler dancing to the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy." The label fired off a letter demanding removal of the clip and YouTube complied.

Lenz then teamed with online free-speech advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation to get a judge to declare that her video was a "fair use" of the song. She then sought damages against Universal, the world's biggest record company, for sending a meritless takedown request.

Universal fought back by raising affirmative defenses that Lenz had bad faith and unclean hands in pursuing damages. Now a California district court judge has rejected those arguments, granting partial summary judgment to Lenz and paving the way for Lenz to collect attorneys fees.

The case is important because it raises the question of whether a media company can be held liable for pursuing a takedown without a full consideration of fair use. The decision by the court last Thursday is very technical and examines damage claims under a statutory code that deals with liability when misrepresentations are made about infringing works online.

A preliminary read on the decision indicates that Lenz can recover legal fees associated with fighting the takedown, but not necessarily fees connected with the cost of pursuing Universal for damages in follow-up litigation. To really sock it to Universal, Lenz would have to make a claim under a code that awards fees at the court's discretion. To do that, she will likely need to show that Universal knowingly misrepresented its initial claim.

mitchturb said:

damn...i so wanted that baby to get paid!

garganta said:

That gif has always made me laugh. I see you copied it from when I posted it on a different thread.

that cartoon is fucking racist Prince is not that skin color, his lower lip is much thinner, his nose is not so negroid. Also Prince has a beautiful profile (look at the cover of The Hits/The B Sides 3-cd set) he has a good chin, that cartoon needs a chin implant. That cartoon looks like a 100% black dude not a multiracial man like Prince, i think they matched Michael Jackson's 1982 skin color.
[Edited 3/1/10 19:47pm]

Gonzalo1979 said:

Funny - this post is more racist than the cartoon...

DesireeNevermind said:

The woman and her baby dont deserve anything.

Gonzalo1979 said:

Prince is a black man. You guys meed to get the fuck over it.

Brofie said:

Absolutely.

Back to the topic at hand...

This is very unsettling to say the least. Prince losing this case sets a precedent now for absolute anarchy and the destruction of capitalism. I think I speak for everyone when I say that 99.9% of all illegal music downloads come from low-resolution, minimum bit-rate rips of background music while parents talk and babies giggle on an uploaded YouTube video.

Brofie said:

I know right...

On a side note this has nothing to do with Prince, WB pulls down everything associated with its acts depending on what is being done with the music. Case in point an a-ha fan made a tribute video for them and their 25th anniversary tour and used a track from their second album called "Soft Rains of April" and posted it on YouTUbe the video lasted about a month and is now been removed by WB music, the band had NOTHING to do with removing it , and PRINCE had nothing to do with this either, no control.

Brofie said:

Co-sign.

geez.

lastdecember said:

A lot of the Prince videos that are being removed say it's at the request of NPG records.

Gonzalo1979 said:

Please. He's black.

The cartoon, if anything, is homophobic because it makes Prince look far, far, more hetero than his fey ass really looks.

lastdecember said:

Not this again.

Paris9748430 said:

Exactly. Christ, it's not hard to figure this shit out.

squirrelgrease said:

Should we tell them the video wasn't taken down by WB? I assumed the title would make that clear seeing as the company that removed it is named, but hey, sometimes you gotta go the extra mile.

Did you know Universal was repping Prince and his back catalog?

I cannot even begin to imagine how shitty a song he's going to inflict on us as a result of this.

Efan said:

I think I'll post a video of my dog puking to "Elixir". I fear if I put that disc in, I may join him though.

Brofie said:

nice one Brofie.

lastdecember said:

I'm sure Prince was behind the a-ha tribute video being pulled down. He probably claimed that it was an unlawful amalgamation of "Soft and Wet", "Purple Rain", and Sometimes it Snown in April"!

Efan said:

lawd


I remember folks tripping out over PFUNK and it really amount to nothing more than a quickly thrown together Gold Experience b-side of a song.

Gonzalo1979 said:

a) That animated gif - like Prince - hardly has any color, so, I don't see a problem here
Color (or lack thereof) and "race" are not the same thing. Not that any of that should matter in the 21st freakin' century... but, until all the azzholes die off, I guess we're still stuck with that mentality.
- As for Prince's skin color... the dude does tan. Ever see the cover of 1979's "Prince" ? Held an original in your hand; not viewing a lightened reissue or image of it on the 'net? My mom has the 8-Track tape of that album (she won't give it to me ), and he's darker on that cover than in the animated piece -!
Seen the Te Amo Corazon video/pix? Dude looked like he got a little color while shooting that one in Morocco (which is in Africa).

b) FYI: just b/c a person has a darker complexion, it doesn't mean that they're not mixed; there's no set color chart or fractions equation or whatever in the gene pool. And, MJ's heritage isn't 100% black; Choctaw on his father's side, and Cherokee on his mother's (and, from LaToya's lack of color, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody white was in their family tree, too)
- but low blow on the color thing with MJ anyway.. I don't suppose you know anybody suffering with the autoimmune disease of Vitiligo? (it is true he had Vitiligo-- and on top of that, he also had Lupus; both are listed in the autopsy report)

c) That animated gif is from a cartoon caricature. Faces/bodies are ALWAYS exaggerated in caricatures.
Noun: exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics.
http://lobaton.wordpress....20/sexy-mf Is he the wrong color here, too?
Careful how you answer now; don't wanna offend any Smurfs or Na'vi.

d) "his lower lip is much thinner, his nose is not so negroid." You know what you're implying here, right? The more negroid the features, the less [beautiful]... ?
Wait... Negroid? Really? What decade/century is this again?
- And when you speak about Asian folks, do you use 'Mongoloid' ?

e) What in the world is a "good chin" ... is that like having "good hair" -?

f) "that cartoon is fucking racist"
You obviously don't know what 'racist' is.... Or do you?

g) Thank you for reminding me why I hardly come here.