Mendelson: Copyright law is stupid

Given the examples he presents, I’m inclined to agree:

1. ASCAP has used copyright law to go after royalty fees from girl scouts who sung popular songs around campfires;

2. Book publishers claim that Google copying their works in order to search them is a copyright infringement.  If held true, all Internet search would be subject to copyright law and effectively banned;

3. There is no clearing house for performance rights meaning that I can own a piece of music, but am limited to where I can actually play it unless I negotiate individually with the content holder; and

4. Incidental uses of content subject the user to infringement claims.  A woman recorded her 13-month old son dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”  The video (all 29 seconds of it) was posted on YouTube and immediately was subject to a DMCA takedown notice.  Google complied.  The mother is now suing Universal (the entity that owns the song) for violation of fair use laws.  (Good for her).

Jason’s a current VC and a reformed lawyer, as well as a dynamic speaker and a strong advocate for the startup community.  I mention all these credentials because he clearly knows what he’s talking about and will almost certainly get good traction on this.  Looking forward to it.

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