Parody and Copyright

In a time before YouTube This Land, made by JibJab, went viral. It was 2004 and the video was a parody of the US election between Bush and Kerry. The video has original lyrics and visuals but used the soundtrack of an existing song "This Land is Your Land". Ludlow Music Inc., the firm which claimed to own the song, threatened a lawsuit over JibJab's use of the audio track. Now, this video may not be the type of remix music that RIP: A Manifesto refers to, but this particular parody is an interesting use of digital copyright.

In this case, JibJab sued Ludlow Music Inc. JibJab argued that under the law their use counted as "fair use". More importantly perhaps is that JibJab won.  At the time of the original songs, "This Land is Your Land", writing, the copyright only allowed for 28 years with the potential to renew for another 28. Due to differences between the year the song can be confirmed as offered for sale, and the year the copyright was registered the lawsuit discovered that "This Land is Your Land" came into public copyright in 1973. Ultimately JibJab and Ludlow came to an agreement which allowed JibJab to keep their parody video up. JibJab's version though, was judged ineligible for copyright protection as the parody was judged to be on the election not the song. JibJab's video "This Land"

However, this particular example, though it is of parody, helps to illustrate the development of copyright in the digital environment. It also highlights the fact that parody's have as much potential for difficulty as remix when it comes to ownership and lawsuits.  

Sources:
http://www.jibjab.com/originals/this_land
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2004/08/song-belongs-you-and-me
https://www.eff.org/cases/jibjab-media-inc-v-ludlow-music-inc
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/66745/jibjab-settles-suit-over-guthries-land