Bad Lip Reading's parody video Dirty Spaceman has been removed by YouTube following a DMCA takedown request by Universal Music Group. (previously) [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges on Oct 23, 2011 - 24 comments

"Wash U Photo Captions" back online after copyright challenge. Washington University in St Louis redesigned their website, and senior Alex Christensen found the photos kinda cheesy. So he started the Wash U Photo Captions Tumblr to poke fun. ("On Thursday mornings, the nerds are allowed to leave the lab.") But Tumblr shut it down, citing copyright violations, until Christensen got legal help. Now it's back, with gems like this and this. [more inside]
posted by epersonae on Sep 14, 2011 - 35 comments

Many a music fan out there in MeFitown and beyond was delighted with and intrigued by that now-vanished website, Dylan Hears a Who! It featured backing tracks that captured, with an astonishing believability, both the sound and the feel of Highway 61-era Bob, not to mention an uncannily good Dylan vocal imitation. And of course, as is now legend, "Dylan" was singing lyrics straight out of the wonderful works of the good Dr. Seuss. Well, back in April Salon magazine broke the story of the very, very talented individual who put the whole thing together. Those for whom this is old news please forgive me, but it's news to me, and I can't find any notice of it here at MeFi, so, here it is.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Aug 28, 2007 - 13 comments

waxy.org vows to fight Bill Cosby's lawyers and continue to provide hosting to House of Cosbys despite receiving a cease & desist letter [PDF]. Andy Baio, founder of waxy.org, discusses this in the NY Times and provides updates on his site. As previously posted, Bill Cosby's lawyers were successful in getting the creators of House of Cosbys to stop hosting and making new episodes of their parody series.

It appears that threatening letters and lawsuits will continue to be filed against internet parody sites as celebrities try to protect what they view as their copyright, according to the Wall Street Journal.
posted by Mijo Bijo on Mar 6, 2006 - 33 comments

Mastercard Wants to Silence Nader If you thought Ralph Nader's views on too much corporate power were too far out -- click this one. The corporate thugs are trying to shut him down.
posted by snakey on Aug 23, 2000 - 6 comments

Found this over at Free Advice in regards to the Elian Gonzalez Spoof Movie:

WHAT IS "FAIR USE" WITH RESPECT TO A COPYRIGHT? Copyrighted work may be used for certain limited purposes by people other than the owner under the doctrine of "fair use." "Fair use" includes reproduction for specific purposes such as:

criticism and comment, including parody
news reporting
teaching
scholarship
research

I beleive that the movie is protected. How else could have the South Park used the photo in last night's episode? I doubt the AP is going to go head to head with Comedy Central over the issue. It is just easy for big companies to threaten the little people and know that they will win. What a shame.
posted by da5id on Apr 27, 2000 - 8 comments