You know that cartoon where Kerry and Bush sing about each other in a pradoy of ‘This Land is My Land’? (I know! I love it too!) The creators of the cartoon, Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, are being sued by the copyright holder to Woody Guthrie’s classic folk song.
“Ludlow Music asked Jib Jab Media (at jibjab.com) to remove its parody and present an accounting of all incomes derived from the cartoon, complaining it has caused substantial harm to the value of Guthrie’s song. Acting on behalf of Jib Jab, the Electronic Freedom Frontier responded that use of the music is protected by the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright laws,” reports Simon Houpt of TheGlobeAndMail.com.
I’m no lawyer, but this seems a pretty cut and dry case of a legal use for parody purposes.
