Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

jibjab away

Wired reported yesterday that Ludlow Music has dropped its lawsuit against “This Land Is Your Land” parody site JibJab, as, owing to a copyright snafu, the song is in the public domain. (“JibJab Is Free for You and Me” - 08/24/04)

While researching the case, the EFF discovered that Woody Guthrie published a songbook in 1945 that included “This Land Is Your Land.” The EFF found a copy of the songbook at the Library of Congress. At that time, copyright holders owned their work for 28 years, and could renew the copyright once during the first term, for another 28 years.

When Guthrie published the songbook, that “started the clock ticking on the 28 years,” Schultz said. Guthrie never renewed it, meaning the terms of the copyright expired in 1973.

Ludlow, meanwhile, registered the song in 1956 as an original copyright, not the renewal. The company was apparently unaware that because Guthrie had already published the song, the terms of copyright began in 1945, not 1956, Schultz said…

Ludlow then renewed the copyright in 1984, which was 11 years too late, Schultz said.

It’s great that the song is in the public domain and JibJab can post its parody without worry of further copyright lawsuits. But it’s a shame that the core issues that the case represented — defining “fair use,” “satire” and “parody” in the digital age — were never even addressed, meaning that it’s all still rather nebulous territory.