For this assignment we were asked to find a case of copyright infringement or fair use that deals with a popular art design. I decided to choose the copy right infringement case about the hit sitcom animated series “South Park”. In July of 2011, South Park creators found themselves in the middle of a copyright infringement suit because of an episode called “Canada on Strike,”. This episode allegedly infringed on Plaintiff Brownmark Films, LLC’s copyright in a YouTube video called “What What In The Butt”. In this episode, one of the characters from South Park named “Butters Stotch” is encouraged by his fellow classmates to record an Internet video in the hopes of making money on the Internet. The Internet video replicates parts of the “What What (In the Butt)” (“WWITB”) YouTube video with the star “Samwell”, which is a copyrighted video. The Court described the “WWITB” music video as “a nearly four minute ditty regarding the derriere of the singer of the underlying work.” In this case the court further explained that the defendants justified their use by claiming “fair use,” as an affirmative defense to copyright infringement.
In my opinion I think that South Park is guilty for using the clip of the video, but I think that the situation could have played out better. Even though South Park was ruled not guilty in this case, if the producers asked Samwell who created the video to use his WWITB clip and featured him in the video, and paid him for the 58 seconds it would have been fair use. In the end people are just money hungry. Americans. Were supposed to be the land of the free but yet people always find little things to blow up disproportionately. YouTube is a creative universe of endless possibilities, but when people are restricted from their creativity because of the law it lacks quality on the Internet.
Here Are The Videos. BEWARE GRAPHIC CONTENT.. ESPECIALLY IF YOUR AT WORK..OR AROUND SOMEONE WHO DOESNT LIKE SEXUAL STUFF OR HOMOSEXUALS OR RELIGION..
- “WWITB” Music Video-
- South Park “WWITB” Remake-
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