Copyright Ruling In US May Impair Free Speech. Amicus brief. Internet Law Professors File Amicus Brief. EFF Court of Appeal. GarciaEnBancOpposition.pdf. G's response to Garcia's contempt motion. Content motion. Update on the Copyright saga. Garcia v Google « The TRIPS Agreement. The majority opinion in Garcia v Google (Ninth Circuit, February 26, 2014) seems to stand for the proposition that an actor has copyright in her performance.
The case was described as horrific and has generated a very significant amount of traffic on listservs and social media. Chief Judge Kozinski wrote, inter alia, the following: An actor’s performance, when fixed, is copyrightable if it evinces “some minimal degree of creativity . . . ‘no matter how crude, humble or obvious’ it might be.” Feist Publ’ns, Inc. v. The dissent makes a number of important points, including: Section 101 of the Act is also instructive, because it differentiates a work from the performance of it. The dissent is correct in pointing out that the US Copyright Act draws a distinction between works and performances. Let me begin by positing that actors can (and usually do) make what one might describe in everyday language as creative contributions to audiovisual productions such as a motion pictures.
YouTube ordered to remove controversial 'Innocence of Muslims' video. An appeals court in the U.S. has ruled that YouTube should take down the controversial “Innocence of Muslims” video that sparked off violence in many countries in 2012, reversing a district court’s denial of an injunction against the video sharing site and and its owner Google.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the actress shown in the movie trailer, Cindy Lee Garcia, had established the likelihood “that irreparable harm would result if an injunction did not issue because she was subject to death threats and took action as soon as she began receiving the threats.” Garcia also established “sufficient causal connection” between the infringement of her copyright and the harm she alleged, the court said.
The anti-Islam movie trailer led to protests in 2012 at U.S. embassies and consulates in various countries including Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Google could not be immediately reached for comment. M. Anti-Islam Movie Actor Sues Producers, YouTube To Have Film Removed. Not long after I had written my opinion that YouTube should absolutely not censor the disgusing anti-Islam movie that has inflamed oft-flammable parts of this rock we all live on together, interesting news began filtering into the bloodstream.
Actors in "Innocence of Muslims" began accusing its producers of misleading them about the roles they played, dubbing dialogue over their performances, and other bizzare tactics that had supposedly been used to keep those in the film from knowing what the end product was going to look like. [Lily] Dionne was one of about 79 cast and crew who say they were "grossly misled" when they answered casting calls on Craigslist, Backstage magazine and other publications in July 2011 for a film that was described as "an historical Arabian Desert adventure.
"But from the beginning, Dionne said the cast and crew had questions, including why the central character in a period piece had a Western name. "We did wonder what it was about. Cindy Garcia stories at Techdirt. We've been following the saga of Cindy Garcia for quite some time now.
She appeared in the now infamous YouTube film "Innocence of Muslims" that attracted worldwide attention after it was blamed for various riots and fatwas from extremist Muslims, because the horribly scripted, produced and acted film is clearly insulting to the religion. While the video had been out for months prior to the controversy, once it started generating so much attention, Garcia tried pretty much every trick in the book to make the movie disappear.
She sued both the producer and YouTube in California state court. Innocence Of Muslims Actress Now Argues That The Movie Violates Her Copyright. Welcome back, viewers, to another segment in our "How To Look Like A Complete Legal Know Nothing While Also Making Sure You Keep Streisand-ing Yourself Into Oblivion" series of posts here at Techdirt (we're working hard on a new segment name; sorry).
Remember when we urged YouTube to notcensor the controversial hate-film, "Innocence Of Muslims"? And then do you remember how one of the film's actresses, Cindy Garcia, went bonkers in California state court, seemingly alleging everything she could think of against the film's producers in attempt to force YouTube to take the film down? Remember how everyone was surprised to hear a story involving censorship that didn't have a copyright element to it? Well, to hell with your surprise, because Cindy Garcia is back in a federal way, and she just claimed copyright infringement (PDF) over her performance and filed DMCA notices to get the film taken down. As Marc Randazza hilariously notes, this is plainly stupid. Secret 'Innocence of Muslims' Order Caused Google to Go Ballistic. A still from "The Innocence of Muslims" Earlier today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a shocking ruling by determining that Innocence of Muslims actress Cindy Lee Garcia could assert a copyright interest in her performance in the film and that Google had to remove the controversial anti-Islamic film from YouTube.
The opinion could usher in all types of new lawsuits from Hollywood creatives over films, TV shows and other works that rely on joint contributions. Notably, 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski rejected many of Google's arguments, including that Garcia's performance was a work for hire and that she made an implied license when agreeing to perform. As a result, the ruling is not only a potential litigation bonanza for the Hollywood plaintiff's bar, but ISPs will now have tough days ahead of them in determining how to respond to copyright takedown notices from individuals who, before today, might not have been presumed to hold any interest in copyrighted material.
Innocence of Muslims movie trailer. How Not To Combat Revenge Porn. Judge Alex Kozinski & Eugene Volokh, “Lawsuit, Shmawsuit” <*> Judge Alex Kozinski & Eugene Volokh, "Lawsuit, Shmawsuit" (updated version of an article that was originally published at 103 Yale Law Journal 463 (1993)) Searching through the LEXIS legal opinions database reveals that "chutzpah" (sometimes also spelled "chutzpa," "hutzpah," or "hutzpa") has appeared in 231 reported court decisions.
Curiously, all but eleven of them have been filed since 1980. There are two possible explanations for this. The more likely explanation is that Yiddish is quickly supplanting Latin as the spice in American legal argot. Google must remove all “Innocence of Muslims” videos from YouTube, appeals court rules. A California appeals court on Wednesday ordered Google to take down all copies of a controversial anti-Islamic movie, granting an injunction to an actress in the film who had filed a copyright claim after being subjected to global death threats.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court ordered Google to remove all copies of the 14-minute film, titled Innocence of Muslims, “from YouTube and any other platforms within its control and to take all reasonable steps to prevent further uploads.” The obscure film, produced in 2012, touched off a global uproar that included riots and an Egyptian cleric’s fatwa calling for everyone involved to be put to death, including the actress, Cindy Lee Garcia. Garcia, who received $500 for acting in the film, claimed she was tricked and that the producer dubbed offensive lines into the Arabic version of the film like “Is your Mohammed a child molester?” Google will challenge the ruling. Here is a copy of the ruling with some of the relevant portions underlined.
Actress Claims Copyright Protection In Her Performance; Can You Do That? – Jonathan Pink — Leader, Entertainment, Internet and New Media Team at Bryan Cave, LLP. A debate is brewing over the film, “Innocence of Muslims.”
Slow down, I’m not talking about the debate over it’s merit, artistic qualities, or even the really important First Amendment issues it presents. Untitled. Copyright meets “Innocence of Muslims”: Ninth Circuit orders removal of movie from YouTube, on copyright grounds. From today’s Ninth Circuit decision in Garcia v.
Google, Inc. (9th Cir. Feb. 26, 2014): [A] writer and producer, Mark Basseley Youssef — who also goes by the names Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and Sam Bacile — cast [Cindy] Garcia in a minor role. Garcia was given the four pages of the script in which her character appeared and paid approximately $500 for three and a half days of filming. “Desert Warrior” [the title of the film as Youssef described it to Garcia] never materialized. Garcia’s theory is that (1) she owns the copyright to her own performance, (2) Youssef never properly acquired the rights to that performance — for instance, because there was no express assignment of rights — and therefore (3) a court should order Google to take down the video that infringes Garcia’s copyright. 1. 2. 3. 4. To be sure, the harm is different in nature than what is usually involved in copyright cases. Untitled. Court orders Google to take down 'Innocence of Muslims' film.
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered Google to remove from the Internet all copies of an anti-Muslim film that forced an actress from her home because of threats on her life. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said a trial judge erred when he refused to grant an injunction ordering the removal of the film, “Innnocence of Muslims,” from YouTube, which is owned by Google. The film sparked worldwide violent protests. "While answering a casting call for a low-budget amateur film doesn’t often lead to stardom, it also rarely turns an aspiring actress into the subject of a fatwa,” 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote.