14 DAY TRIAL // A mother whose video showing her baby dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was pulled off YouTube entered a legal action against Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). The company decided that the 30-second video infringed copyright, as the artist's song shouldn't have been displayed in public without his prior consent.
"I was really surprised and angry when I learned my video was removed," said Stephanie Lenz, the mother. "Universal should not be using legal threats to try to prevent people from sharing home videos of their kids with family and friends." The Electronic Frontier Foundation, in agreement with the woman, filed a lawsuit against UMPG which, as the association claims, didn't have any right to get involved in a domestic issue. As the video was spontaneous and its upload on the Internet had as reason only the possibility of friends and family to see the baby's "performance," no infringements were made, as the woman's lawyer thinks.
The ex-officio implication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation was prompted by the fact that the association believes that the individual freedom of speech is greater than some company's pretensions. "Copyright abuse can shut down online artists, political analysts, or - as in this case - ordinary families who simply want to share snippets of their day-to-day lives," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Universal must stop making groundless infringement claims that trample on fair use and free speech," she added.
Although Universal withdrew its complaint to YouTube after Stephanie Lenz explained what were the reasons for which she posted the video on the Internet, it took six weeks for it to become available again. "Universal's takedown notice doesn't even pass the laugh test," stated the lawyer, who advised Lenz to fight for her right to free speech.
If the video is offensive or not, you be the judges.