South Park, Viacom Sued Over Parody Video... Videomakers Point To YouTube Lawsuit In Defense

from the yeah,-that's-not-going-to-work dept

Justin Loban was the first of a whole bunch of you to send in the news of video producers Brownmark Films suing South Park, Viacom, Paramount and others over a parody video shown in South Park. The original (quite viral) video was the "What What (In The Butt)" video: This was, of course, a huge viral sensation a few years ago. It currently has over 34 million views. South Park parodied it all the way back in April of 2008, with the following:

Now, there are a few oddities about the whole thing. First, it's not clear why they waited over two and a half years to sue. That's got to work against them. Also, apparently, Viacom did license the song. The singer/songwriter (if you can call it that), Samwell, is not a part of the lawsuit. Brownmark were just the folks who made the video, and they're saying that their copyright was infringed also. In fact, if you watch the original video, you'll see that they've even added a popup telling people that Samwell isn't suing South Park, and in the description they state:

SAMWELL IS NOT SUING SOUTH PARK.
Brownmark Films is NOT Samwell. It is a music video production company.
Samwell is not involved, so please try to be nicer to him!

The whole "please try to be nicer to him" thing is kind of strange, and suggests that Brownmark knows what a ridiculous lawsuit this is. Separately, Viacom has responded by pointing out that parody is protected and is not copyright infringement. Obviously, the whole thing seems a little silly, and feels partly like it might be a publicity stunt by the two guys at Brownmark.

However, there is one other interesting note. In the press release announcing the lawsuit, Brownmark points out that there's a certain irony in the fact that Viacom was "copying" content from YouTube at the same time it was suing YouTube for posting copies of Viacom content:

In a time when corporations like Viacom are actively pursuing billion dollar judgements against video distribution sites such as YouTube, it is unreasonable for those same corporations to treat the Internet as a bottomless well from which it can endlessly draw content without permission, payment, or even acknowledgment of the original artists. Brownmark Films is taking a stand against these corporations’ continued reliance on double-standards, a decision made all the more difficult by Brownmark Films' respect for South Park and its brand of humor.

All that said, this lawsuit seems like it will go nowhere extremely fast. The video is clearly a parody video, and I can't see how the videomakers have any chance of convincing a court otherwise.

Filed Under: infringement, parody, samwell, south park, video, viral video, youtube
Companies: brownmark films, viacom, youtube