Posted on 07/31/2008 11:56:25 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
A federal judge has dismissed radio host Michael Savage's copyright infringement lawsuit against the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations, which had posted excerpts of one of his programs online.
Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco ruled that the clips, totaling four minutes out of the two-hour Savage Nation program that ran on Oct. 29, 2007, constituted a fair use.
"Defendants used plaintiff's material in order to criticize and comment on plaintiff's statements and views," Illston wrote in the 21-page ruling.
Savage filed suit for copyright infringement and racketeering last December. Among other allegations, Savage asserted that the CAIR took his statements out of context in order to harm his public image as well as to help the organization raise funds. The clips were excerpted from a program in which Savage said, "The Quran is a document of slavery and chattel," and that Islam is "a religion that teaches convert or kill, a religion that says oppress women, kill homosexuals."
Illston discounted both arguments. She ruled that even if the organization used the clips to raise money, doing so would have been a fair use of Savage's work. "The sum of plaintiff's allegations and evidence demonstrate that there will be no actual or potential market impact on the original work," she wrote. "The audience that might donate and listen to the audio segment on defendants' Web site is separate from the audience that plaintiff possibly could stand to profit from in using his Web site to sell the audio content at issue."
(Excerpt) Read more at mediapost.com ...
Thanks, I’m not a lawyer but I know that as soon as even the slightest mention of money is involved it can cause quite a stir with copyrighted works verses Fair Use.
Personally I do think the decision as it stands is a plus for us here to use as a precedence for the likes of AP and Gannett.
I would be standing on the sidelines and watching the debate from the balcony section of course, my wife gets mad if I stay at the Holiday Inn too often anymore...
You mean you want him to stop speaking out against radical Muslims?
I honestly believe that radical Muslims have attacked our Country and will continue to do so. You don't make a lick of sense!
You don't make a lick of sense.
You "love it" that Mike took it in the chops from a Clinton appointee? That terrorist-front CAIR won an apparent victory? Don't you have your priorities a little unhinged?
You're schadenfreuding for the wrong party, my friend. I've listened to Savage countless time, and never felt "stabbed in the back" even when I disagreed vehemently with him.
Let me tell you, there's more figurative stabbings in the back, front and sideways going on these days on some hot Veep and religion FR threads than I hear on the Savage Nation.
He's jealous of other hosts? Give me a break. Mike's #3 in the nation, behind only Rush and Hannity. Maybe YOU'RE the one that's jealous of Mike's success in this tough world.
Leni
Money complicates the issue but it is not definitive. If someone created a site that did nothing but post excerpts with no links to copyrighted works, no discussion and made money off it, it is a debatable fair use.
As long as Jim keeps excerpting (within reason), linking and sports the reader acessed bulletin board, he is in good shape.
I think his decision about the AP was more out of emotion than reality. The AP can puff all they want but the courts decide fair use. The downside is the AP could use FR as it’s test case and Jim doesn’t have the money nor probably wants to fight another lawsuit, even if the chances of winning were pretty good.
But I doubt the AP would do that, there are bigger fish and more important targets than FR>
Not if the quotes are from AP! I hope you are aware of that:)
So Wiener got slapped....
Go CAIR!
????
The only one I see here stabbing conservatives in the back is you. That you would side with the terrorist shagging CAIR over Michael Savage is sickening.
how has he stabbed conservatives in the back. I bet you are one of the butt monkeys that voted for mccain in the primaries, or wanted RUDY....talk about back stabbing
yobosayo TSN QUEEN
He Gave Jerry Brown $2000
Annyonghaseyo, Liberty!!!!!
Yep. I paraphrase everything off of an AP story now just to be on the safe side, with some spelling errors thrown in for good measure.
holy smakies, he gave moonbeam 2g? I heard he had chuckie shumer on his show. I hear he also hate autistic children...............STFU
liberal Weiner gets slapped down
And AP will, of course, stop threatening lawsuits over copyright infringement, right?/sarc
(As a Savage fan, I still expected this. Fair use should cover a lot of ground. I still wanted to see CAIR dragged thru court via discovery, though.)
Check out the status-quo Weiner responses to the Weiner/Moonbeam-Brown critics on this thread. (maybe Weiner can hyphenate his name Weiner-Moonbeam)
If you don't like that faux conservative Weiner-Moonbeam, then you are a McCain voting, CAIR membership, GOP tool.
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