Justin Bieber Sends Cease & Desist To FreeBieber Campaign
from the bieber-fever dept
Apparently Justin Bieber has no interest in being kept out of jail. You may recall that the Fight for the Future folks recently started a satirical campaign against the felony streaming bill (S.978 in the Senate, and a part of the SOPA bill in the House) by jokingly launching a campaign to "free Justin Bieber", noting that the bill, as written, could be interpreted to mean that Justin Bieber could have been guilty of committing a felony with his early videos that he put up on YouTube, which helped to really create Justin Bieber. Those videos meet the standards set in the law for criminal copyright infringement, which drives home just how ridiculous the bill is.Apparently, Justin Bieber (or, at least, his lawyers) apparently would prefer not to be used to defend against draconian, overreaching copyright legislation. They sent Fight for the Future a cease and desist letter, claiming that such a use infringes on a variety of his rights, including (of course) publicity rights and his privacy rights.
Of course, as the EFF writes in its response (embedded below), it appears that Bieber's lawyers are clearly stretching the interpretation of various laws... likely hoping that by sending the legal nastygram, it would cause the FreeBieber team to stop. But that's not what's happening. They're standing behind the use of Bieber and the entire effort:
With respect to the privacy claims, we cannot fathom how this political campaign in any way intrudes on any privacy right your extremely public client might assert. As for the purported right of publicity violations, state laws have long recognized that a celebrity's interest in his or her image must be balanced against the public interest in free speech.
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Filed Under: amy klobuchar, cease and desist, copyright, justin bieber, privacy rights, publicity rights, s.978, streaming, youtube
Reader Comments
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Using his name, his likeness, and such as the front of the campaign crosses the line. I am actually sort of disappointed in the EFF on this one, because really they should be about fighting the fight, and not about creating new issues to deal with.
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I don't think 1st amendment issues are 'new issues' EFF is 'creating' as much as they've always been an issue with copyright and publicity right enforcement that the EFF addresses when they are created by others, in this case Beiber's lawyers.
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As for Beiber, if he doesn't want his name associated with the campaign, why should he be forced to do so? Can we use him to sell used cars too?
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He made money off of success on Youtube, and has come out openly against the antistreaming bill. Obviously, Bieber's good name is not being damaged by pointing out how the way he paved for success is being taken away for others.
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Yeah, I know what you mean there. I thought that the "Occupy Wall Street" movement was an advertising push from the New York commercial real estate folks who wanted to fill all those empty office spaces.
But, then again, I might just be a moron in a hurry.
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> the front of the campaign crosses the line.
The law seems to find differently than you:
As for the purported right of publicity violations, state laws have long recognized that a celebrity's interest in his or her image must be balanced against the public's interest in free speech. For example, the Caifornia Code explicitly immunizes uses made with the celebrity's consent "in connection with any news, public affairs, or sports broadcast or account, or ANY POLITICAL CAMPAIGN. (emphasis added) Cal. Civ. Code § 3344(d). Moreover, fair uses of Mr. Bieber's likeness-- such as those on display at the freebieber.org website-- are subject to the fullest 1st Amendment protections. Hoffman v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 255 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir. 2001); Comedy III Prods., Inc. v. Saderup, 25 Cal. 4th 387, 134 (Cal. 2001) ("the very importance of celebrities in society means that the right of publicity has the potential of censoring significant expression by suppressing alternative versions of celebrity images that are iconoclastic, irreverent, or otherwise attempt to redefine the celebrity's meaning"). This is especially true where, as here, the images are transformative and obviously do not impinge on the celebrity's market for his own image. Id. at 405; Gionfriddo v. Major League Baseball, 94 Cal. App. 4th 400, 415 (Cal. Ct. App. 2001).
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"keep bieber free from copyright" doesn't mean bieber has anything to do with the cause other than being affected by it.
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Do as I say, not as I do
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Re: Do as I say, not as I do
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/sorry I just couldn't resist.
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Please show us all how serious you are. Retire from the public eye and regain your precious privacy.
kthksbai
TAC
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Some people are so blinded by greed that can't tell when karma has finally arrived to slap them in the face.
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Teh Man?
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I realize you are a lawyer and located on Wilshire Blvd. But it is in California, where putting 'Esquire' after your name makes you look as douchetastic as the person you are responding to.
Unless of course you are Bill S. Preston, Esquire.
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Bieber's views
Somehow, I don't think he minds this parody all that much, but the suits in charge of him very well might.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/justin-bieber-amy-klobuchar-needs-to-be-locked- up-audio.php
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"well, we tried to help, however.........
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http://arstechnica.com/#!/tech-policy/news/2011/10/justin-bieber-streaming-bill-author-shoul d-be-locked-up.ars
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