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

from the copycats dept

Tue, Jul 26th 2011 7:09pm — Mike Masnick

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

24 Comments

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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Pixelation, 26 Jul 2011 @ 9:46pm

Re:
We need a Fairhaven for this one.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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!!
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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
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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!
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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
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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.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:23am

Re: question for ya
I don't think you can copyright burger-flipping.
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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.
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