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Mom Sues YouTube Over Lame Home Video

Posted by Alisyn

Hey, speaking of kidults, did you hear the one about the mom who is suing YouTube "to protect [her] fair use and free speech rights"? 

Stephanie Lenz's video of her infant son dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was yanked due to copyright violation.  Said Lenz, "I was really surprised and angry when I learned my video was removed... Universal should not be using legal threats to try to prevent people from sharing home videos of their kids with family and friends."  Her lawyers claim that Universal (who own the rights to the song) is is abusing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act provision, which calls on websites to remove copyright material at the behest of owners.

I say let's Get Lawsuit Crazy, shall we?  The video's nothing to write home about - just send it to your family and friends, and be done with it, already.  Now, if the baby was dancing to "Erotic City," we might have something worth fighting over...

 


Comments

 

Jennifer said:

The more we say "who gives a crap" the more your rights are trampled. It's a slippery slope. She isn't suing for money, in fact, go visit her blog for the whole story:

http://blog.piggyhawk.net/

July 30, 2007 9:17 PM
 

RachelZ said:

Well, Prince has a right to not have weird-looking babies dancing to his songs, too, so..... yawn.  I'm glad that mom has so much free time and cash with which to pursue her lawsuit.  Perhaps when she's done, she can come clean my house?

July 31, 2007 4:53 PM
 

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) said:

Sorry, rachel, kids are off limits. (mean-o) Besides, the kid is freaking adorable.

August 1, 2007 1:07 AM
 

Heather said:

This is my first and last visit to this site.  How dare you?  If you keep letting the fucking American conglomerates trample all over the rights of the everyman, where will we be in ten years?  It'll be Big Brother (and NOT the crap-ass reality show) and you know it.  Lighten up and see it for what it is.  Kudos to the mom for sueing those idiots - THEY need to find something better to do with their time and money, not her!

August 1, 2007 10:39 AM
 

Alisyn said:

I just don't think a home video that has been taken off a huge website that has to abide by copyright laws and is very clear about that, is worth suing over.  He's a cute kid, and I'm sure we'll see a lot more of him in the future, but the lawsuit isn't about her right to post videos - it's about using a song whose rights have been bought and sold for years now.  It's nothing new, and it's not about "Big Brother."  It's just the law.

August 1, 2007 11:32 AM

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