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.
According to the suit, filed on Wednesday September 9, 2009 in the U.S. District Court in Nashville, which does not involve DeGeneres herself, when representatives of the recording companies asked the defendants why they never sought proper licence they gave the best response I have ever heard: they didn’t “roll that way”. Yes, you read that correct.
However, CeleBitchy.com points out that some of the shorter 30-second clips may be fine as they could fall under fair-use. A commenter Jim on Gawker.com points out that one of the longest clips ever played was on Obama’s appearance when he was campaigning for President, above, and it was still less than one minute.
It is not known at this point known why the companies took the six years the show has been on air to take action against the show’s Telepictures Productions.
notto get all political, but it does seem kinda fishy that they wait 6 yrs and specifically point out Obama’s appaearance. could be coincidence, though.
i understand folks not wanting their stuff to be used all willy nilly and whatnot, but bitching about a few seconds worth of a clip that people actually enjoy is a bit much, not like you have to pay to watch Ellen (unless you see it live)
no wonder she took the idol gig, she may have to be paying for all these copyright things…wait! isn’t it convenient that they bring this up as she’s about to start on idol? hmm…
I never said they mention the Obama clip in the case. Nor did I say that was why they waited 6 years. If you read the above, those were all seperate points from seperate sources.
whoops…i read wrong…it happens! gonna sue me for copyright infringement? lol
No harm, no foul… but I’ll sue if you really want me too!