Thursday, July 29, 2004

"This Land Is Your Land" parody under attack

I've received it from a variety of friends, of all political persuasions, and it's one of the best things to come out of this campaign season: The Flash parody of "This Land Is Your Land."

Naturally, nothing that good can last without an attack from the lawyers. Woody Guthrie's copyright holder is going after the creators Gregg and Evan Spiridellis for copyright infringement. They argue that use of the music does not constitute a parody because the Spiridellis are making fun of something other than the music itself (I would think that the alternative lyrics would cover that).

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing reports that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has stepped in on behalf of the Spiridellis.

Better watch the video soon, though, because it may be squelched.

UPDATE: Reason Online has an article that covers the issues in more depth.

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