Cartoon creators sued (Jibjab "This Land")

Globe and Mail ^ | 8/4/2004 | SIMON HOUPT

[elfman2]

NEW YORK -- The creators of a popular Internet cartoon that satirizes U.S. President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry are being sued by the copyright holder of Woody Guthrie's classic folk song This Land is Your Land for using the tune without proper authorization.

Ludlow Music asked Jib Jab Media (at jibjab.com) to remove its parody and present an accounting of all incomes derived from the cartoon, complaining it has caused substantial harm to the value of Guthrie's song. Acting on behalf of Jib Jab, the Electronic Freedom Frontier responded that use of the music is protected by the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright laws.

The cartoon features a cut-and-paste Bush and Kerry trading sing-song insults while dancing to a version of Guthrie's tune. "I'm a Texas tiger, you're a liberal wiener," sings Bush, sitting atop a horse while lassoing Kerry in a hot dog costume. "You have more waffles than a house of pancakes. You offer flip-flops, I offer tax breaks. This land will surely vote for me."

Kerry responds: "You can't say nuclear, that really scares me. Sometimes a brain can come in quite handy," while giving Bush a brain transplant. He continues, "but it's not going to help you, because I won three purple hearts!"

The cartoon mimics the end of Dr. Strangelove in a shot of Bush riding a flying missile while yelping, "It's true that I kick ass!" It also features a sad-faced Indian in ceremonial headdress bemoaning that, "This land was my land," as the desert landscape behind him fills up with icons of American commerce.

The lawsuit is only the latest twist in a roller-coaster month of extremes for Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, who are the sole owners and creators of Jib Jab. Since posting the cartoon on July 8, the brothers have become media darlings. The publicity spike caused millions of people to download the cartoon and prompted Jib Jab's servers to crash repeatedly. The cartoon is now hosted by Atomfilms.com.,

In a recent radio interview, Woody Guthrie's son Arlo said he enjoyed the cartoon and even referred friends and relatives to the site. "I think my dad would have absolutely loved the humour in it," he said

[Ranxerox]

I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride my motorcicle.

I don't wanna die - I just want to ride my motorcy-

[-YYZ-]

Arlo Guthrie?

I don't want a pickle...

[Conspiracy Guy]

you've got mail

[Conspiracy Guy]

"They Have No Brains in Lib America"

Sung to It Never Rains in California

Got on board a custom 757,
Kerry Edwards painted on the side for you,
All that talk about lib people, that the libs are sheeple.
It's true, man it's true.

Seems they have no brains in lib'ral America,
Seems that they're all dumber than an f'n door.
They have no brains in Lib America, nor does my Tehrayza,
What's more, I'm a bore.

I got the nod, the DNC said,
I've got no class, I've never led.
I'm so outclassed, I'm so inbred, I'm gonna get stomped.
They have no brains in Lib America, nor does my Tehrayza,
What's more, I'm a bore.

Need to tell the folks Bush lied and I'm a Hero,
I've flip flopped so long I don't know what's true>
I'll pay some lackies to surround me,
Some lackies to surround me.
I'm through, I'm so through.

Seems they have no brains in lib'ral America,
Seems that they're all dumber than an f'n door.
They have no brains in Lib America, nor does my Tehrayza,
What's more, I'm a bore.

Song suggested by lillybet

Conspiracy Guy 8/5/2004

[tang-soo]

I love this cartoon. My favorite line is where Mr. Bush calls kerry a UN pus*y.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Song Ping

[Darksheare]

!!!

[Chode]

greedy communism knows no bounds... even past death

[Conspiracy Guy]

Could you take this photo and add "Not Fit to be" before the word President. And change "The Real Deal" to "The Raw Deal" ?

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Isn't it ironic

I think you'll be hearing from a certain whiny Canadian's lawyers.

The only thing ironic in that song is there isn't a single example of irony in the song.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Are you sure you're not thinking about Paul Anka and the "Tonight Show" theme in this case?

snip-
Anka must have suggested re-using this old tune, which does have a pleasant bouncy feel and does seem to fit. Since it
was technically a deal under a "work for hire" contract...
Johnny became the "author" for copyright purposes too, and got a piece of not only the publishing but the composer's share
too. Both Anka and Carson's names are listed for the purpose
of collecting BMI performance royalties;

Of course, it must have been worth it: Anka once said,
he got $200 in royalties every time the show aired...
and it ran for 32 years, 52 weeks a year, 5 nights a
week -- which works out to $1,664,000.00 -- not bad for
an old tune re-cycled twice before

http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/tonight_Carson.html

[MeekOneGOP]

hahahaha! Right on ! :^D

[Conspiracy Guy]

It would really spiff up the song!

[MeekOneGOP]

Could you take this photo and add "Not Fit to be" before the word President. And change "The Real Deal" to "The Raw Deal" ?

Oh, yeah! Ah'll have it later tonight or tomorrow.

[Conspiracy Guy]

You're almost there already! Got to drive. 45 min to BEER!

[Tribune7]

It is ironic that I'd refer to a song that annoys me immensely.

[Sandy]

Parody falls under "fair use".

The cartoon isn't parody; it's satire.

A parody alters an original work to make fun of the original work. OTOH, alteration of an original work to make fun of something unrelated to the original work is called satire. Is the JibJab cartoon making fun of This Land Is Your Land, or is it making fun of Bush and Kerry? It's not a parody unless it's making fun of the original song.

[supercat]

However, if you go to the directory's commentary sound track, they still have "Happy Birthday" being played.

The irony is that while the words to "Happy Birthday" may have been first published in the 1930's, the melody was published long before 1922, except that the first dotted-eigth/sixteenth was simply a quarter.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Mr. T:

I pity de fool who try dat jibber-jabber on me! Jibjab on de otha hand, well, "T" can deal with dat.

[King Prout]

it'd be easier if I knew more of the tunes you are riffing on - I just can't get the lyrics to pop in my head the way they ought.