ABC Sports Threatens To Hit Tim Pawlenty With Copyright Infringement Claim Over Miracle On Ice Footage

from the copycats dept

Back in April, we noted that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had created a commercial that many people noted looked like a copy of a campaign ad for Tim Palwenty, just substituting Canadian scenery for American scenery. In that post, we also noted that Harper had apparently failed to properly license the hockey footage he used as a part of the commercial. Well, now it seems that Pawlenty is copying Harper... in choosing not to license hockey footage. Pickle Monger alerts us to the news that ABC Sports says it's going to send Pawlenty a cease & desist for using footage from the famous "Miracle on Ice" 1980 Olympics match in which the underdog Americans beat the Soviets. ABC says that the footage was not licensed -- especially the use of announcer Al Michaels -- and that they were considering sending a cease & desist. Of course, I'd still argue that this kind of usage should count as fair use, but for the most part, uses like this are not seen as fair use.
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Filed Under: commercials, copyright, miracle on ice, politics, tim pawlenty
Companies: abc, disney


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  • icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 7:23pm

    Pshaw

    I'll narrate it for no fee. I can't do a worse job than Al Michaels, can I?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    E. Zachary Knight (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 7:31pm

    It is sad that even with politicians getting cease and desist letters like this, and there are other examples such as McCain getting a c&d for daring to post a video of an interview he was on, they will still not make the needed changes to protect fair use.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 26 Jul 2011 @ 7:39pm

    My god! A cease & desist letter!

    In other news, dog barks at man.

    Let this one steep a while, Mike, it's pretty weak so far.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      E. Zachary Knight (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 7:48pm

      Re: My god! A cease & desist letter!

      I think it is a pretty good illustration of the absurdity of the current IP "ownership" mentality many companies.

      Seriously, how many people actually care about a game played in 1980 let alone actually watch it? Any person who actually has any interest in it will read about it rather than search for a clip of it buried in a politicians campaign ad.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        taoareyou (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 8:15pm

        Re: Re: My god! A cease & desist letter!

        It's not about anyone being interested, it's just about money.

        Personally, I think the footage should be considered historical, but I don't agree that the video footage should be able to be used by someone else for profit, and that's what a political campaign is all about these days.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      PaulT (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:06am

      Re: My god! A cease & desist letter!

      My god! Someone attacks Mike for holding an opinion on his blog while offering nothing of substance himself!

      In other news, dog barks at man.

      "it's pretty weak so far."

      You're telling me...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The eejit (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:44am

      Re: My god! A cease & desist letter!

      Well, MY dog doesn't bark at me. But that may be because I don't have a dog.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The Groove Tiger (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 8:22am

      Re: My god! A cease & desist letter!

      In other news, out_of_the_blue barks at blog.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Davey, 26 Jul 2011 @ 8:32pm

    There might be a silver lining here. If the copyright trolls start mounting bogus attacks on politicians, we could see a sudden change in the sympathy they get from said politicians when the time comes to legislate fair use and copyright generally. Here's hoping the "IP" shysters overreach big time.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    snidely (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:58am

    Disagree on fair use

    I don't think this type of usage should be allowed under fair use. Fair use should be available for commentary, news, education and certain other non-commercial uses. Pawlenty definitely should have to license this to be used in a commercial/political environment.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Richard (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 2:09am

      Re: Disagree on fair use

      Pawlenty definitely should have to license this to be used in a commercial/political environment.

      Why? It doesn't interfere with the market for the original...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 4:48am

        Re: Re: Disagree on fair use

        It doesn't interfere, but he is using it to gain a profit.... To me, this one is gray. But, I still think ABC has their head up their ass for taking any action at all against it...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Ron Rezendes (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 8:39am

          Re: Re: Re: Disagree on fair use

          Agreed, he is using the video to try to win an elected position that will pay him above the board quite nicely and the backroom deals which pay considerably more.

          This one is barely gray in my eyes, pay up Pawlenty, or quit using it.

          Better yet, get some of your congressional buddies together and let's change the copyright laws to a "beyond reasonable" time frame of 20 years and be done with this nonsense!

          Win-Win!!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 4:55am

      Re: Disagree on fair use

      ... political environment.


      As Eldred re-emphasized, fair use is one of copyright's builtin accomodations for the first amendment.

      There are two slightly competing views of the expression protected by the first amendment. One view is that political speech is at the core. The second view is that scientific and educational expression is just as important as core political expression.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 3:19am

    Mike Masnick's defintion of fair use: using someone else's property whenever they feel like it.

    "What's yours is also mine" in Mike Masnick's world.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      PaulT (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 3:36am

      Re:

      AC's definition of reasonable discourse: attack Mike for stating every opinion on his own blog, no matter how stupid it makes me look or how different the accusation is from demonstrable reality.

      "I'm not stupid if I accuse Mike of believing something he doesn't" in AC's world.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Gwiz (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:05am

      Re:

      Mike Masnick's defintion of fair use: using someone else's property whenever they feel like it.

      Um..no. I would assume Mike's definition of fair use is the legal one. You know, the one written into the Copyright Act of 1976.

      Here is an overview of it from the U.S. Copyright office, just in case you are not familiar with it:

      http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:14am

        Re: Re:

        Yes Einstein, you should try reading it. Pawlenty's usage has nothing to do with fair use.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Gwiz (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:46am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Pawlenty's usage has nothing to do with fair use.

          Yeah, OK, my bad. I didn't realize you were just sniping for no apparent reason.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    abc gum, 27 Jul 2011 @ 4:42am

    Not only is it fair use, but it is hilarious, and has great potential.

    What if politics were more like hockey .....

    (rushes to make popcorn)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    thedigitari, 27 Jul 2011 @ 8:51am

    question for ya

    I worked last week, and got paid this week, does that mean next week I get paid again for the work I did 2 weeks ago?? that would be cool huh?

    I already copyrighted this Idea, just but typing this

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:23am

      Re: question for ya

      I don't think you can copyright burger-flipping.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    steve davidson (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 8:55am

    Pay the Piper

    Well considering that the networks pay a BAZILLION bucks to televise and own the rights.....they own the rights...so pay up!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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