Judicial Ruling Clarifies Interpretation of the DMCA
A judge has ruled that the case Lenz v. Universal, notoriously known as the “dancing baby” lawsuit, should be allowed to go forward, dismissing a motion by Universal to throw out the lawsuit based on the grounds that Universal does not have the resources to consider “fair use” as provided in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
The dispute was over a 29-second home video posted to YouTube that depicted a toddler dancing to “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince. Universal ordered that the video be taken down from the website for violating copyright restrictions on the song that it holds the copyright to as part of Prince’s back catalogue. However, Stephanie Lenz decided to sue Universal for the right to post the video based on the “fair use” principle—that the video was not intended for profit, the use of the music was faint and insubstantial.
Universal then moved to have Lenz’s case thrown out on the grounds that they do not have the resources to examine for fair use in every single video instance of possible copyright. Typically, a large company will have a search string that identifies these videos based on a performer’s name, and sends out notices of takedown electronically by the thousands.
However, Judge Jeremy Fogel disagreed, ruling that it in fact was not unreasonable for Universal to consider fair use before ordering a takedown under the DMCA. He is allowing the case to proceed. Check back in the future for more updates on this important copyright and DMCA issue!
