The suit against the makers of the hilarious Campaign 2004 cartoon depicting Bush and Kerry singing a parody of Woody Guthrie’s This Land has now been decided in favor of the cartoonists. This decision is consistant with the doctrine of fair use and shows that the copyright holders to Guthrie’s works have completely lost touch with his own intentions.
Copyrights are important, but the continual efforts to erode the public domain are counterproductive. This suit was clearly an effort to extort money from a popular site, and the decision to protect the fair use of the song was the correct one.
This wasn’t so much a victory of fair use as it was of research; it turns out that the song “This Land is Your Land” had expired into the public domain.
It’s a great outcome, but sadly, it doesn’t really set precident for any future fair use battles…