Prince ProfileAn eight-year battle between pop legend Prince and a toddler on YouTube dancing to Prince's song is still kicking on, today being heard in an appeals court.
As the saga goes: Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and its client Stephanie Lenz, the mother of the child, sued Universal Music Group back in 2007 for a "wrongful takedown" of the video, which Universal did allegedly on behalf of Prince. EFF claimed the video of Lenz' son Holden dancing to Prince's Let's Go Crazy playing in the background was clearly fair use.
It had only 273 views at the time — as ARS Technica writes, EFF's lawyer Corynne McSherry told the court, "Before this lawsuit was filed, there were 273 views, and I'm pretty sure they were all from Ms. Lenz's mom." Currently the video is sitting on 1.3 million views.
Universal's lawyer defended their takedown of the videoo by explaining that takedowns under the US's Digital Millenium Copyright Act were "meant to be a rapid response mechanism" without every takedown notice "preceded by some consideration of fair use".
In 2013, the case's last ruling was heard — one in which US District Judge Fogel declined to hand a clear win to either EFF or Universal, stating that the issue of fair use could proceed to a jury trial. Both parties appealed, resulting in today's hearing where the court explored copyright holders' rights when potential infringement is in question.
Once the case is finally concluded, it will set a powerful precedent for how copyright takedowns can work, especially where copyright holders' rights lie.
