Posts under ‘Video’

Barack Obama dancing in the Dance Over on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Ellen DeGeneres Show is being sued over its broadcasting of copyrighted music.

A favourite part of the show is for many fans the “dance over” segment where a high-profile guest enters and dances with the host to a 30-second to a minute-long clip of a pop song. The music clips are usually up-tempo numbers and the two dance and encourage the watching audience to do the same. One problem and it’s a big problem. The clips are subject to copyright and so multiple record companies are suing for more than 1,000 copyright infringements and unpaid licensing fees.

Learning that the show apparently never went to the trouble of licensing the music is astonishing. No one is immune from copyright and with millions watching the show it is not as if the record companies are not going to notice.

In a move that has been labelled heavy-handed and showing they are out of touch with how music is shared in 2009 the music companies are suing, as under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, Degeneres’ show needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully.

(more…)