SCOTUS asks for government input on ‘Dancing baby’ case
The US Supreme Court has asked the government to weigh in on the long-running saga of the ‘Dancing baby’ copyright dispute.
On Monday, October 31, the Supreme Court invited the solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the US. Ian Gershengorn has been the acting solicitor general since June this year.
The case began when Stephanie Lenz uploaded a short video of her son dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”, nearly a decade ago.
Universal then sent YouTube a take-down notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act informing it that the video was not authorised and that YouTube should remove it.
Rights group the Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF), on behalf of Lenz, sued Universal for wrongfully targeting what she thought was lawful fair use.
The case ended up at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that copyright owners must consider whether allegedly infringing content has been used fairly before requesting that it is taken down from websites.
In a petition for a writ of certiorari, filed in August this year, the EFF asked the Supreme Court to consider the case, which it is now doing.
Corynne McSherry, EFF legal director, said: "We’re pleased that the court has invited the solicitor general’s view on Lenz’s petition.
"This case raises essential questions about the future of online fair use that are deserving of Supreme Court review and we hope the solicitor general shares that view."
