Did Slate Violate Copyright Law?

from the nobody-knows dept

Slate has a clever video comparing Hillary Clinton to Tracy Flick of the movie Election:
This isn't a blog about politics, so I won't venture an opinion on whether this is fair to Sen. Clinton or not, but the video has sparked some interesting discussion about copyright law. First, Cynthia Brumfield points out that this is precisely the kind of video that Hollywood (specifically, NBC's Rick Cotton) would disallow under the fair use doctrine. Cotton argues that "the assembly of unchanged copies of different copyrighted works" shouldn't counted as fair use, but that there should be "something more" to qualify. This is quite vague, but it seems pretty likely that the above video, which is basically just 45 seconds of movie footage interspersed with footage of Sens. Clinton and Obama, wouldn't qualify under his test. But Chris Soghoian points out an even more obvious way that Slate may have broken the law: the most likely source of the video clips in question would likely be from a DVD. As Soghoian points out, the video is too crisp and clear to have come from a VHS tape. It's conceivable that it was taped from a cable TV broadcast, but I think he's right that the most obvious source would likely have been a DVD. If that's the case, then the video editor in question almost certainly broke the law, because DVD-ripping tools like Handbrake are illegal "circumvention devices" under the DMCA. Of course, it's not likely Election distributor Paramount will actually sue Slate, which is owned by the influential Washington Post Company. But I think it illustrates the extent to which the letter of the law is diverging from everyday practice. In a sane world, there would be no question that videos like this one would be legal. But in the world we actually live in, no one is sure what the law is, and people developing these kinds of creative works need to be constantly worrying about possible legal problems.
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Filed Under: copyright law, dmca, election, fair use
Companies: slate, washington post


Reader Comments

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  1. icon
    Ron (profile), 22 Jan 2008 @ 7:18am

    Yeah?

    OK, I watched the video. My comment: Who cares?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Jim, 22 Jan 2008 @ 8:00am

    Parody

    Clearly a parody and therefore fair use.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Ajax 4Hire, 22 Jan 2008 @ 8:02am

    When fair use of DVD is made illegal

    then all DVD-RW are illegal.

    These laws are not about fair use, they are about taking away your ability to use content/goods/services as you see fit.

    It is the dawn of the nanny state where the government begins to take more and more control of your life.

    from the way you use your computer to your choice of health care (or lack), to your choice of thermostat setting, your choice to drink alcohol, to smoke, to bare arms. Death by a 1000 cuts.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shops_of_Isher
    "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free."

    "The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 8:15am

    Re: When fair use of DVD is made illegal

    What? There are some nice people at your door in white jackets to help you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    AlexC, 22 Jan 2008 @ 8:18am

    analog out

    Slate didn't have to defeat any encryption by ripping, they could have used the analog outs and legally done a digital-analog-digital conversion.

    However, there still should be a fair use limitation on the anti-circumvention measures of the DMCA.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 8:57am

    That was the worst video, ever. Whoever made it should be sued, for whatever reason anyone can think of.

    I feel like less of a person for having watched it, knowing that I will never get that minute and a half of my life back.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Vincent Clement, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:00am

    Re: analog out

    Or better yet, just kill the DMCA. It is anti-competitive, anti-innovative and anti-consumer.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:11am

    Ajax, During the Packers/Giants game, they showed shirtless fans. Seems our right to "bare" arms is alive and well in America.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:22am

    This situation is just getting insane. If you aren't diminishing the commercial value of the original work or substituting for the original work in it entirity then it is clearly fair use.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Mitch the Bitch, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:26am

    It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA

    Don;t just kill the DMCA, kill it's fn authors.

    Everyday the skumbag demoncrats are stealing YOUR liberty. Liberalism is the slow road to tyranny and if YOU elect another Demoncrat and expect anything different YOU should be killed...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Reason, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:41am

    Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA

    Yeah, as if the Republicans were not after your liberty either...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 9:55am

    Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA

    Paraphrase of Mitch's post: "If you don't agree with me, you should be killed."

    Funny, that doesn't sound at all like tyranny to me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Inquisition (profile), 22 Jan 2008 @ 10:31am

    Well, if Prince can force videos off of YouTube for just having a snippet of his song in the background, I'm sure that Paramount could sue Slate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 10:51am

    "The video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from this website."

    Apparently, Mitch has had TechDirt banned from the interweb tubes.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    moe, 22 Jan 2008 @ 1:20pm

    Re: When fair use of DVD is made illegal

    Your mixing up DVD technology and DRM technology. All DVD-RW aren't illegal because many people use recordable DVDs for other things than making copies of DVD videos. Most consumer video cameras nowadays are digital, so making your own DVD videos is a common use. On top of that, DVD-R is my medium of choice for making data backups.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 1:46pm

    Selective Enforcement

    Of course, it's not likely Election distributor Paramount will actually sue Slate, which is owned by the influential Washington Post Company.

    Just make everything illegal and then use selective enforcement.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2008 @ 3:25pm

    Re: It's the AUTHORS of the DMCA

    Wow. Either you really need to stop spewing your tripe because you're doing nothing to help your cause, or you are actually a very clever Democrat in disguise trying to make everyone hate Republicans.

    Back on topic, the DMCA is horrendously flawed, but until someone sues a Congressman or something for a violation, I doubt we'll see any serious effort to mend it. The fact that an issue like this would even come up is painfully sad.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    rman, 24 Jan 2008 @ 1:22pm

    Ever hear of DVR?

    I agree with an earlier statement...Who cares!

    However if the only item in question is quality, ever hear of a DVR? I record shows daily on mine and can easily put them to DVD without ripping.

    It's all about money, the potential of money really. If a show would never have been seen otherwise, is it really valuable?

    They should take down Wierd Al if this is not fair use.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    yanira, 9 Apr 2009 @ 8:30am

    idk cuz people got to learn that id bad doing that

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    vtr, 27 Nov 2009 @ 12:06am

    that is odd.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Greg Marksinson, 11 Jan 2010 @ 11:41pm

    Pliers are one of the most useful tools one can own. My personal favorite is snap ring pliers since they can be used for both internal and external rings. Probably one of the more common type of pliers are needle nose pliers. They are great for grabbing things in tight places or holding a nut down. If you're going fishing anytime soon don't forget your fishing pliers.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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