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Cute Baby Video Scores Legal Victory Against Universal, Prince

by Terrence O'Brien on March 1, 2010 at 04:30 PM

Cute Baby Video Scores Legal Victory Against Univeral, Prince
A California district court judge has issued a decision in a case filed by Stephanie Lenz against the Universal Music Group that will pave the way for her to recoup attorney fees and collect damages from the label. In 2007, Lenz posted a 30-second video on YouTube that included her then 18-month-old baby dancing to the barely recognizable strains of Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy.' The song's creator (being the litigation-happy elf that he is) had Universal issue a take-down notice, and Google complied. But Lenz proved much more tenacious than Universal could have anticipated.

Lenz immediately filed a counter notice and restored her video (which you can see below). Then she enlisted the Electronic Frontier Foundation, claimed that the video fell under the umbrella of "fair use," and sued the record company for issuing a "meritless takedown request." Universal fought back and claimed that Lenz was not seeking damages in good faith, but the court rejected those arguments. Lenz now stands to recoup her legal fees, although it remains to be seen whether or not any further damages will be awarded.


The real story is how this decision will be viewed and leveraged in future court cases: Will this "David and Goliath" tale turn out to be a fluke? Or has the California District Court set a precedent by holding companies liable for issuing take-down notices without proper consideration for fair use? [From: Reuters]

Tags: copyright, lawsuit, music, prince, stephanie lenz, StephanieLenz, universal, youtube

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