JibJab = Hypocrite
In July 2004 I wrote about the origins of "This Land is Your Land" (See: "When the World's on Fire".)
The reason for the post was the controversy about copyright ownership. JibJab produced a parody of "This Land is Your Land" and was sued by the copyright "owner." I didn't believe even Woody Gutherie would claim ownership of the song. In the end the "owner" agreed he didn't have the rights -- though not entirely for the reason I believed.. JibJab got to keep their parody online.
Now it seems Jibjab has sent a cease and desist letter to The Black Lantern. who created a video for "George Bush Don't Like Black People." (lyrics) (video)
In their video The Black lantern used nine non-contiguous seconds of JibJab's video. Nine Non-Contiguous Seconds. The Berkeley Intellectual Property Weblog does a good job explaining why the nine seconds of video constitutes fair use under U.S. copyright law.
JibJab didn't agree it was fair use and The Black Lantern removed the nine seconds. If everyone in the video had done that there wouldn't have been a video. It is sad that JibJab took the goodwill earned from their fight and spent it to quash another parodist..
