Almost a year ago, I put this post up here about an infant dancing to a song by "some artist with an identity crisis". I also heard that this same artist was a bit upset and had material he performed yanked despite the fact that he did not have rights to the song. These two incidents both deal with the issues of fair use. My thoughts on both are simple. Get a counselor, get comfortable with your identity and get with the 21st century.

Seems that we may get to see what the courts actually think of the "dancing baby" case. As I mentioned a year ago, the EFF responded to the bogus copyright case. The case is now nearing trial. Of course, doing what any litigant would do if they are facing a loosing battle, Universal has requested the case be dismissed. I hope that does not happen.

One of the first feeds I check when I wake is Recording Industry vs The People. This morning I saw this. The case, at the moment, is scheduled for Friday.

I hope the case proceeds. I hope that the judge reads Universal the riot act. In my opinion, removing a 29 second clip of a child dancing to a song in the background is protecting nothing. I feel it is more like harassment or agitation. It is not the action of a responsible organization protecting the rights of an artist (or whatever he wishes to be called at this time). I think these are more like tactics we would see in organized crime or the Gestapo. They protected nothing and attacked the consumer and innocent.

Seriously though, I feel it is great that the EFF is going to attempt to see this through. I feel this case is a great example of fair use and not, in any way, a violation of copyright. I am glad to see that, in my opinion, the courts finally seem to be tired of this "submit to us via litigation" tactic that the recoding industry is using as a business model.

Besides once the court sees how cute that kid is, Universal is going to look so dumb it will be an entertaining thing to follow. I don’t know how fast this thing will proceed and I will be away most of this weekend but I will do my best to follow up on it here. Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment.