From Big Hollywood comes word of an interesting development in the case of the "parody" videos created by the campaign of state Assemblyman and US Senate candidate Chuck DeVore (R-CA). YouTube has re-posted the DeVore video based on the Don Henley hit "All she wants to do is Dance," transformed by DeVore into an attack on his opponent, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), called "All she wants to do is tax":
Henley himself owns no copyright in "Dance," and thus has no ability under the DMCA to demand the video's takedown. (The DMCA applies only to copyright claims.) The composition in "Dance" is administered by publisher Warner-Chappell, which sent a takedown notice to YouTube on the video. DeVore's campaign sent a counter-notice under the DMCA; Warner-Chappell did not sue, so YouTube re-posted the video.
Henley's lawsuit against DeVore proceeds. He has copyright claims based on DeVore's "parody" of "The Boys of Summer" (whose composition Henley does own), and Lanham Act/17200 claims based on "Dance," which recently survived a motion to dismiss.
Friday, August 7, 2009
3 comments:
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I get the impression from this that regardless of whether or not Henley wins his lawsuit, "All She Wants to Do is Tax" will remain on YouTube. Is that correct? It seems odd that if the court rules that the video violates the Lanham Act, it would still be allowed to remain on YouTube.
ReplyDelete@EaglesOnlineCentral:
ReplyDeleteDeVore posted the video, and thus could remove it. If the court determines that the video violates Henley's rights under the Lanham Act, I believe it could issue an injunction forcing DeVore to take it down.
Thanks, Ben. That makes sense.
ReplyDelete