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Dance Copyright Enforced by DMCA

Posted by Zonk on Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:33 PM
from the seventh-layer-of-awesome dept.
Government The Courts News
goombah99 writes "The "creator" of the Dance move known as the electric slide has filed a DMCA based takedown notice for videos he deems to infringe and because they show "bad dancing". He is also seeking compensation from the use of the dance move at a wedding celebration shown on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Next up, the Funky Chicken, the moonwalk, and the Hustle? More seriously, does the DMCA have any limit on its scope?"
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Dance Copyright Enforced by DMCA 25 Comments More /

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  • Richard Silver is lucky that noone's managed to copyright crap web pages. His page (with animated email gif & quicktime plugin required) does not leave a font, colour, alignment, highlighting, style or indentation untouched.

    My eyeballs feel.... violated.
  • 1) The DMCA is not an organization, it is a law. Laws get enforced. They don't go around doing the enforcing.
    2) The claim has yet to be upheld (enforced) by any court or other governmental body.
    3) Even if the letter is acted upon and the video is removed, that still doesn't indicate whether or not the DMCA is being properly applied (if not, then the DMCA can't be demonized in this situation). All it means is that someone decided removing the video was the easiest way to handle a potential problem.

    • Re:Another Misleading Article Title (Score:5, Informative)

      by PapayaSF (721268) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:45PM (#17885756)

      True, but apparently you can copyright choreography [copyright.gov]:

      Choreography and pantomimes are also copyrightable dramatic works. Choreography is the composition and arrangement of dance movements and patterns usually intended to be accompanied by music. As distinct from choreography, pantomime is the art of imitating or acting out situations, characters, or other events. To be protected by copyright, pantomimes and choreography need not tell a story or be presented before an audience. Each work, however, must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which the work can be performed.
      • I understand that, but the implication of the title is that this particular case is a "done deal," as if showing a dance for a few seconds in a video has been legally established as copyright infringement covered by the DMCA. It also implies that somehow the DMCA itself is at fault, which isn't the case. The DMCA didn't make dance steps copyrightable, any more than it made videos of said dances potential copyright infringement. All the DMCA provides in this particular case is a mechanism for the copyright holder to enforce his or her copyright - that isn't a bad thing, though obviously, and IMO in this case, it can be used badly.

      • Re:Another Misleading Article Title (Score:5, Funny)

        by WhiteWolf (95535) on Monday February 05 2007, @12:28AM (#17886098)
        "I feel a SONG coming on!"

        Old Man, there's no need to feel down
        I said Old Man, pick your feet off the ground
        I said Old Man, there's a new law in town
        Lawsuits can make you feel happy

        Old Man, here's what you must do
        I said Old Man, do what your lawyer says to
        You can sue them, and I'm sure that you'll find
        They won't violate your copyright!

        It's fun to sue with the D-M-C-A!
        It's fun to sue with the D-M-C-A!

        It has everything you need to sue
        You can even screw YouTube!

        It's fun to sue with the D-M-C-A!
        It's fun to sue with the D-M-C-A!

        You can take down the vids,
        You can enforce your rights
        It's all within your sights!

      • And there's the problem. Similar situation with tort law; you club someone with a lawsuit and it would cost more for them to comply or settle than fight it, regardless of how frivolous the claim is. Something is broken somewhere.

        Oddly enough, this is a problem best solved by another law/tort: frivolous prosecution. You can sue for not only the actual damages (that is, your court costs) but punative damages (money on top to get the other guy to never do it again.)

        (Unless, of course, you really MEANT your grammatical mess-up, and intended to say that going along with legal thuggery is less expensive than standing up for your rights -- in which case, WTF?)

  • D in DMCA (Score:5, Funny)

    by dotslashdot (694478) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:41PM (#17885708)
    Maybe this guy thought the DMCA was the Dance Millenium Copyright Act and wanted send the dance dance people to sing sing.

  • I'm going to copyright other motions! (Score:5, Funny)

    by erroneus (253617) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:43PM (#17885738) Homepage
    How about stretching and yawning at the same time! I'll make billions!!!

  • YouTube Revenue Share Will Really Make This Bad! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by robotsrule (805458) * on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:44PM (#17885752) Homepage
    When YouTube/Google turn on their revenue sharing plan for video makers, this is going to get ugly. One of the tenets for "fair use" is whether or not the use of the copyrighted material was whether the intent was of a commercial nature or not. Once revenue sharing starts, millions of legally "naive" video uploaders are suddenly going to find themselves thrown into the nasty side of the fair use litmus test. Watch how the DMCA takedowns and litigation filings skyrocket once money is involved (as it always does).

  • The Robot (Score:5, Funny)

    by caller9 (764851) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:46PM (#17885762)
    Should it be patented or copyrighted?

  • This is awesome (Score:5, Insightful)

    by greg_barton (5551) * <greg_barton@y a h o o . c om> on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:51PM (#17885806) Homepage Journal
    The more the law is used like this, the more it will be seen as absurd. When the DMCA is used to stomp on uses of technology the wider public can't understand it. When it's used to stop you from being filmed dancing a certain way in public it's understandable by everyone.

  • Minister of Funny Walks (Score:5, Funny)

    by Esion Modnar (632431) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:51PM (#17885814)
    Unavailable for comment.

  • Nothing to see here... (Score:5, Informative)

    by spiritraveller (641174) on Sunday February 04 2007, @11:56PM (#17885856)
    The summary for this story is just weird. The DMCA is just the method of enforcement, because the performance is being displayed online.

    Choreography is just one of the items that are protected by copyright, which is listed in 17 USC 102:

    (a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:

    (1) literary works;
    (2) musical works, including any accompanying words;
    (3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
    (4) pantomimes and choreographic works;
    (5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
    (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
    (7) sound recordings; and
    (8) architectural works.

    This statute was last revised in 1990. The DMCA did not add anything to it. I don't know how long choreography has been protected by copyright, but I would gamble that it's been at least fifty years or so.

  • And another thing... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JumperCable (673155) on Monday February 05 2007, @12:15AM (#17886002)
    Has anyone else noticed that he is using that clip of copyrighted characters on his website doing line dancing. How much do you want to bet he doesn't have permission from the copyright holders to show that. Also, the music he has on line, the video he has on-line and THE VIDEO HE IS SELLING all contain the song The Electric Slide which he is NOT the copyright holder for.

    One quick call to the RIAA and he is done for. Fight fire with Fire.

    The only sad part is that I find myself defending line-dancing of any kind.

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