Bit Parts

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California refused to grant summary judgment to either party in a suit filed by Stephanie Lenz alleging Universal Music lacked a good faith belief when it sent a takedown notice to YouTube complaining that a video Lenz posted of her son dancing to the Prince composition “Let's Go Crazy” was an unauthorized use of the song copyright. Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 5:07-cv-03783. Lenz claims the takedown notice amounted to a “material misrepresentation” under '512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, because Universal didn't engage in a fair-use analysis before writing YouTube. District Judge Jeremy Fogel noted: “While it agrees that requiring a copyright holder to engage in a full-blown fair use analysis prior to sending a DMCA takedown notice would be inconsistent with the remedial purposes of the statute, ' a copyright owner must make at least an initial assessment as to whether the fair use doctrine applies to the use in question in order to make a good faith representation that the use is not 'authorized by law.'” But Judge Fogel added: “Lenz presents substantial evidence that Universal did not consider explicitly whether her video made fair use of Prince's song before it sent the Takedown Notice.”

Episode Viewability on Website Doesn't Establish Personal Jurisdiction