Friday, April 23, 2010

It's a Parody, Dammit



Guess how long before YouTube takes this down in Germany? In the U.S.?

After all... This is technically illegal in Deutschland. (But not the U.S.)

The "illegal in another country" issue is why Google said they left China. Because Search Results shouldn't be upgafucked-with by any given country's laws (says Google.) Yet here we have Germany saying it's illegal to talk about Hitler in certain ways. Such as making fun of him. (I'm not totally clear about the precise laws in Germany vis-à-vis Hitler, but I'm fairly certain the above video breaks them. Hell; this conversation likely breaks them as well. *smiles sweetly*)

Well Google? Whatcha gonna do now, hmmm?

As to the second issue, that the copyright owner wants the video pulled down everywhere, including in the United States...

It's a parody. Funny as hell, also.

Parody is one of the primary tests for fair use under U.S. law. No question that this mix survives any challenge; the copyright owner is a legal fool -- other than causing lots of hype -- for even raising the issue. However as the mix points out, unless one has enough money to stay in the game, you're going to end up folding.

So Google... Are you going to cave in the U.S. under copyright law? Are you going to cave in Germany on the "no Hitler" issue? What's it going to be? Are you being evil today? Or... not.