Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I don't know what evidence you have to suggest that the copyright holder did not consider the question of fair use, and reach the conclusion that it was not fair use. Whether or not use of the tune constitutes fair use is the whole question under debate, so clearly opinions on the matter differ.
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I haven't read through this entire thread, but I am familiar with Lessig's argument and the filings he's made. With that said, he can be fairly sure it's a bogus takedown because what he did is clearly fair use under U.S. law; it's some brief clips used to illustrate a concept (including commentary from Lessig over the clips), it was for education and not a commercial purpose and there's no reasonable argument that it harmed the market for Lisztomania's song. If this isn't fair use, then the concept is essentially meaningless.
Really, this is s bog-standard case of a copyright holder using the U.S. DMCA takedown process inappropriately. It happens all the time because there's little consequence for copyright holders who jump the gun and start firing off takedown notices. The only thing that makes this case mildly interesting is that Lessig is suing for damages under the DMCA, something I'm not aware of anyone managing to do successfully in other cases of a bogus DMCA takedowns.