Thursday, August 5, 2004

Dept. of Fighting The Power JibJabbing for Artists' Rights. The creators of an animated satire of the Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns say their controversial work is a perfect example of fair use -- and they're going to court to prove it. If they win, the decision could bolster artists' rights in the Internet age. By Katie Dean. [Wired News] This case should pretty much lay it out if the government of the U.S. believes in the constitution or in serving its corporate masters. This land belongs to you and me or does it belong to SonyChevronHalibechtelBMG? It's a clear example of a legal concept called fair use, say the lawyers for JibJab and advocates of liberal copyright laws. If JibJab wins, the case could embolden artists to fend off copyright holders' aggressive lawyers, who increasingly view digital distribution as a threat. "This is an important case to set the tone for artists and authors who want to make use of famous works," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing JibJab. JibJab and the EFF say JibJab did not infringe anybody's copyright because of the American doctrine of fair use, which tries to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest in distributing ideas and allowing others to build on them. In general, an artist or writer can copy excerpts from the works of others for the purposes of education, criticism, research or news reporting. 12:53:39 PM     leave/read comments []

Dept. of "Damn Straight!" From radio daisy pad: For those scared of the aging Rockers... "Musicians should stick to music, actors to acting." On last night's Night Line.... TED KOPPEL: Bruce, let me put it very bluntly ... Who the hell is Bruce Springsteen to tell anybody how to vote? BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: This is my favorite question. KOPPEL: I thought it would be. SPRINGSTEEN: First of all, I don't even tell anybody anything. You know, you ask people to think about things together, you know. Second of all, it's an interesting question that seems to only be asked of musicians and artists, for some reason, you know. If you're a lobbyist in Washington, you're a business guy. Well, shut up and do business. Stay out of public policy, you know. Nobody complains about that. These big corporations, right, you influence the government your way, right? Labor unions influence the government their way. Farmers influence the government their way, right? Artists write, and sing, and think, and this is how we get to put our two cents in, and we do it right in front of people, not in secret meetings behind closed doors. We let people know what we think.. 12:43:16 PM     leave/read comments []