Sept. 14--REPORTING FROM SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court refused Monday to throw out a lawsuit by a woman whose home video was taken off YouTube after Universal Music Corp. contended that it violated a copyright to Prince's song "Let's Go Crazy."
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Universal first should have considered whether the video of the woman's young children dancing to the song represented "fair use," an exception under copyright law that allows people to use others' creative works in criticism, teaching and other limited circumstances.
The ruling, apparently the first of its kind by a federal appeals court, will limit the ability of copyright holders to remove material from the Internet.
Stephanie Lenz of Pennsylvania sued Universal after the company included her 29-second video in a take-down notice sent to YouTube. The video was among more than 200 that Universal said should be taken down because of copyright violations.
YouTube yanked the video, but Lenz fought back. After she obtained a lawyer, her video was reinstated.
"If a copyright holder ignores or neglects our unequivocal holding that it must consider fair use before sending a take-down notification, it is liable for damages," wrote Judge Richard C. Tallman for a three-judge panel.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for Internet freedom, represented Lenz.
"Today's ruling sends a strong message that copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech," said Corynne McSherry, the group's legal director. "We're pleased that the court recognized that ignoring fair use rights makes content holders liable for damages."
McSherry said the ruling will be important in the upcoming presidential primaries, which historically have led to a "rash of copyright takedown abuse" in which opposing sides try to remove criticism from the Internet.
"The decision made by the appeals court today has ramifications far beyond Ms. Lenz's rights to share her video with family and friends," McSherry said.
"We will all watch a lot of online video and analysis of presidential candidates in the months to come, and this ruling will help make sure that information remains uncensored."
An attorney for Universal could not be immediately reached for comment.
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UPDATE
2:05 p.m.: This post has been updated with comments from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The post was originally published at 12:33 p.m.
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