Against Intellectual Property Laws... Only When It Works Against You

from the interesting... dept

Funny how that works. Last month, a group of folks involved in the making of an award winning documentary about the civil rights struggle were complaining how it couldn't be shown anymore because of the licensing terms on the content used in the film. There's even a quote: "It's a very important project to bring back and keep in front of the public." Others made similar quotes. So, when Downhill Battle went out and put the film online, you'd think the group would be happy. Nope. They're calling their lawyers and planning to "pursue any and all legal remedies available to stop this as soon as possible." You can see their point. They don't want to be associated with this unauthorized use of the content, which could reflect poorly on their attempts to relicense the content. However, it does seem a little bit silly for them to complain about the way documentary licensing works and then get just as upset when someone helps them get around it. If they are perfectly happy with the way the licensing system works, then why complain about it in the first place?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.