Copyright law and This Charming Charlie; Los Angeles Times, 9/26/13

Los Angeles Times; Copyright law and This Charming Charlie: "Tumblr, the blog's publisher, responded by removing three of the mash-ups last week, prompting LoPrete to announce the blog's demise. Then she changed her mind. As her attorney, Dan Booth of Cambridge, Mass., noted in a letter to Tumblr, LoPrete's parodic re-purposing of The Smiths' lyrics perfectly fits the definition of a fair use: She posts only snippets of the lyrics, puts them in a wholly new context and doesn't make any money off them or damage the market for the songs. In fact, the blog draws new attention to the long-defunct band. Universal says that it's no longer pursuing the matter, so LoPrete's story has a happy ending...It's been 15 years since Congress set up rules for the use of copyrighted material online; it's past time for lawmakers to overhaul them so that they work better for both copyright holders and those who make fair use of their works."

Yes, It's Fair Use To Mashup Charlie Brown And The Smiths; TechDirt.com, 9/24/13

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; Yes, It's Fair Use To Mashup Charlie Brown And The Smiths: "We had mentioned in our post about Universal Music sending bogus DMCA takedowns over Lauren LoPrete's This Charming Charlie tumblr mashup, that LoPrete had been contacted by various copyright and internet free speech lawyers offering to represent her. It appears that among the lawyers reaching out to her were the good folks at Booth Sweet -- whom we've covered many times for their efforts to fight copyright trolls and other bogus threats -- have taken on her case. Lawyer Dan Booth has sent a short and simple counternotice to Tumblr, arguing that the strips that were taken down were covered by fair use."