Monday, October 20, 2008

McCain Complains to YouTube Over Copyright Issue

Senator John McCain's general counsel has complained to YouTube that they have "inappropriately" removed some McCain TV commercials that contained snippets of news broadcasts. Using provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, news organizations demanded that the commercials be removed from YouTube. In one case, the TV spot contained a clip of CBS anchor Katie Couric taking about sexism in campaign coverage. CBS argued that the editing of the news clip implied that it was endorsing the McCain campaign. McCain's general counsel countered that the excerpts represented fair use, which exempted them from control by the copyright owner. McCain complained also that the copyright act does not permit the video to be put back online for 10 to 14 days, "which can be a lifetime in a political campaign." According to the article on page 8B of the business section of today's New York Times, YouTube is looking to strengthen the fair use doctrine.

No comments: