1 April 2010Copyright

Universal loses first round of Prince dispute

Universal Music Group may be financially liable for incorrectly issuing a takedown notice to YouTube, forcing it to remove a video of a baby dancing to music by Universal artist Prince, a US district court judge has ruled.

YouTube adhered to the takedown notice by removing the 29-second video, before the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued Universal on behalf of the baby’s mother, Sarah Lenz. The foundation believes Lenz had a fair-use right to upload the video.

US District Judge Jeremy Fogel granted Lenz’s “motion for partial summary judgment” in his decision under a section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which states that any copyright owner who misuses a takedown notice may be “liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer”.

The foundation’s No Downtime for Free Speech campaign, which is actively seeking to reprimand abusers of the act, has the aim of upholding this section by informing defendants of their rights.

“Copyright claimants are increasingly misusing the [act],” it said. “[The claimants] demand that material be immediately taken down without providing any proof of infringement.”

The video of Lenz’s dancing baby is currently available to view and listen to on YouTube.

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